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THE 



SEASONS. 



BY 



JAMES THOMSON. 



TQ WHICH I* PREFIXES 



THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



FREDERICK-TO WX: 



PRINTED AND SOLD BV JOHN F. THOMSOW, 



181Q. 



A 



tJ>V 



V 



LIFE 



OF 



JAMES THOMSON. 



MR. THOMSON was born at Ednam, in the 
I shire of Roxburgh, on the 1 1th of September, in the 
year 1700. His father was minister of that place : a 
man little known beyond the narrow circle of his co- 
presbyters, and to a few gentlemen in the neighbour- 
hood ; but justly respected by them for his piety, 
and his diligence m the pastoral duty. His mother, 
whose maiden name was Hume, was co-heiress of a 
small estate in that country : a person of uncommon 
natural endowments ; possessed of every social and 
domestic virtue ; with an imagination for vivacity and 
warmth, scarce inferior to her son's, and which raised 
her devotional exercises to a pitch bordering on en- 
thusiasm. 

Our author received the rudiments of his education 
at a private school in the town of Jedburg ; and in th^ 



h LIFE OF THOMSON. 

early part of his life, so far from appearing to posses* 
a sprightly genius, he was considered by his school- 
master, and those who directed his education, a» 
being without even a common share of parts. 

But his merit did not long lie concealed. The 
Reverend Mr. Riccarton, minister of Hobkirk, in the 
same presbytery, a man of uncommon penetration 
and good taste, very soon discovered, through the 
rudeness of young Thomson's puerile essays, a fund 
of genius well deserving culture and encouragement. 
He undertook therefore, with the father's approbation, 
the chief direction of his studies, furnished him with 
the proper books, and corrected his performances. 

It is not to be doubted but our young poet greatly 
improved while under the care of Mr. Riccarton, who, 
as he was a philosophic man, inspired his mind with 
si love for the sciences. Nor were the reverend gen- 
tleman's endeavors in vain : for Mr. Thomson has 
shewn in his works how well he was acquainted with 
natural and moral philosophy ; a circumstance which, 
perhaps, is owing to the early impressions he received 
from Mr. Riccarton. 

Sir William Bennet likewise, well known for hit 
gay humor and ready poetical wit, was highly delight- 
ed with Mr. Thomson, and used to invite him to pass 
the summer-vacation at his country seat : a scene of 
life which our author always remembered with par- 
ticular pleasure. But what he wrote during that time, 
either to entertain Sir William and Mr. Riccarton, or 
for his own amusement, he destroyed every new- 
year's day ; committing his little pieces to the flames* 



LIFE OF THOMSON. v 

m their due order ; and crowning the solemnity with. 
a copy of verses, in which were humorously recited 
the several grounds of their condemnation. 

After spending the usual time at school in the 
acquisition of the dead languages, Mr. Thomson was 
removed to the university of Edinburg. Here, as at 
the country school, he made no great figure : his com- 
panions thought contemptuously of him; and the 
master under whom ke studied had not a higher 
opinion of our poet's abilities than the pupils. 

In the second year after his admission, his studies 
were for some time interrupted by the death of his 
father: who was carried off so suddenly, that it was 
not possible for Mr. Thomson, with all the diligence 
he could use, to receive his last blessing. This af- 
fected him to an uncommon .degree ; and his rela- 
tions still remember some extraordinary instances of 
his grief and filial duty on that occasion. 

Mrs. Thomson, burthened as she was with a family 
of nine children, did not however sink under this mis- 
fortune. She consulted with her friend, the Reverend 
Mr. Gusthart, what was most proper for her to do in 
her particular situation. This reverend gentleman, 
one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and senior of the 
Chapel Royal, was always extremely serviceable to 
her in the management of her little affairs. By his 
advice, having mortgaged Her moiety of the farm of 
which she was co-heiress, she repaired with her fa- 
mily to Edinburgh, where she lived in a decent and 
frugal manner, while, her favourite son was attending 
his academical course. 



ri LIFE OF THOMSON, 

After having gone through the several classes of 
philosophy, Mr. Thomson was entered in the divinity* 
hall, as one of the candidates for the ministry ; where 
the students, before they are admitted to probationary 
trials, must give six years attendance. The divinity* 
chair was then filled by the reverend and learned Mr. 
Hamilton : a gentleman universally respected and be* 
loved: and who had particularly endeared himself to the 
young divines under his care, by his kind offices, his 
candour and affability. Our author had attended his 
lectures for about a year, when there was prescribed 
to him for the subject of an exercise, a psalm, in 
which the power and majesty of God are celebrated. 
Of this psalm he gave a paraphrase and illustration, 
as the nature of the exercise required : but in a style 
so highly poetical as surprised the whole audience. 
Some of his fellow-students, envying him the suc- 
cess of this discourse, and the admiration it procured 
Jam, employed their industry to trace him as a plagi- 
ary ; -for they could not be persuaded, that a youth, 
seemingly so much removed from the appearance of 
genius, could compose a declamation in which learn- 
ing, genius, and judgment had a very great share. 
Their search however proved fruitless ; and Mr. 
Thomson continued, while he remained at the uni- 
rersity, to possess the honour of that discourse, with- 
*mt any diminution. Mr. Hamilton acted a more 
noble and friendly part : As his custom was, he com- 
plimented the orator upon his performance, and point- 
ed out to the students the most striking parts of it : 
Jwftt .at Imtp iWW$ to Mr. Thomson, he told him, 



LIFE OF THOMSON. vli 

.smiling, that if be thought of being* useful to the 
ministry he must keep a stricter rein upon his ittm* 
gination, and express himself in language more intcl* 
ligible to an ordinary congregation. 

This gave Mr. Thomson to understand, that hi$ 
expectations from the study of theology might be 
yery precarious, even though the church had been 
more his free choice then probably it was ; but peiv 
haps he might still have pursued the clerical profes* 
«ion, had not the following accident opened up more 
extensive views. 

About this time Mr. Thomson had wrote a para* 
phrase on the 104th psalm, which, after it had re? 
ceiyed the approbation of Mi\ Riccai ton, he per-? 
mitted his friends to copy* My some means or other 
this paraphrase fell into the hands of Mr. Auditor 
Benson, who, expressing his admiration of it, said, 
that he doubted not if the author was in London, but 
he would meet with encouragement equal to his 
merit. This observation of Benson's w r as communis 
cated to Thomson by a letter, probably from a lady of 
quality, a friend of his mother's then in London ; ami 
r-o doubt, had its natural influence in inflaming his 
lieart, and hastening his journey to the metropolis. 

Our author went first to Newcastle by land, where 
he took shipping, and landed at Billingsgate,. When 
he arrived, it was his immediate care to wait on Mr, 
Mallet, who then lived in Hanover square, in the 
character of private tutor to his Grace the Duke of 
Montrose, and his brother the Lord George Graham, 
to well known afterwards as an able and gallant se&* 



viii LIFE OF THOMSON. 

officer. With this gentleman though much his 
junior, our author had contracted an early intimacy 
when at school, which improved with their years; 
nor was it ever disturbed by any casual mistake, envy, 
or jealousy on either side: a proof that two writers 
of merit may agree, in spite of the common observa- 
tion to the contrary. Before Mr. Thomson reach- 
ed Hanover-square, an accident happened to him, 
which, as it may divert some of our readers, we shall 
here insert.. 

When our author left Scotland, he. had received 
letters of recommendation from a gentleman of rank 
there, to some persons of distinction in London, which 
he had carefully tied up in his pocket handkerchief. 
As he sauntered along the streets, he could not with- 
hold his admiration of the magnitude, opulence and 
various objects this great metropolis continually p > 
sentedto his view. These must naturally have divert- 
ed the imagination of a man of less reflection ; and it 
is not greatly to be wondered at, if Mr. Thomson's 
mind was so engrossed by these new presented 
scenes, as to be absent to the busy crowds around 
him. He often stopped to gratify his curiosity, the con- 
sequences of which he afterwards experienced. With 
an honest simplicity of heart, unsuspecting, as un- 
knowing of guilt, he was ten times longer in reaching 
Hanover-square, than one less sensible and curious 
would have been. When he arrived, he found he 
had paid for his curiosity ; his pocket was picked of 
his handkerchief, and all the letters that were wrapt 
up in it. This accident would have proved very mor- 



LIFE OF THOMSON, ix 

tifying to a man less philosophical than Mr. Thomson : 
but he was of a temper never to be agitated ; he then 
smiled at it, and frequently made his companions 
laugh at the relation. 

Mr. Thomson, upon his coming to London, was 
likewise very kindly received by Mr. Forbes, after- 
wards Lord President of the Session, then attending 
the service of Parliament ; who, having seen a spe- 
cimen of his poetry in Scotland, was highly delighted 
with our author's genius, and recommended him to 
some of his friends ; particularly to Mr. Aikman, who 
lived in great intimacy with many persons of distin- 
guished rank and worth. This gentleman, from a 
connoisseur in painting, was become a professed 
painter ; and his taste being no less just and delicate 
in the kindred art of descriptive poetry, than in his 
own, no wonder that he soon conceived a friendship 
for our author. With what a warm return he met 
with, and how Mr. Thomson was affected by his 
friend's premature death, appears in the copy of verses 
which he wrote on that occasion. 

In the mean time, our author's reception, where- 
ever he was introduced, emboldened him to risk the 
publication of his Winter : in which, as himself was 
& novice in such matters, he was kindly assisted by 
Mr. Mallet. This poem, the first finished of all the 
Seasons, and the first performance he published, was 
originally wrote in detached pieces, or occasional 
descriptions. It was by the advice of Mr. Mallet they 
were made into one connected piece ; and it was by 
the farther advice, and at the earnest request of this 
gentleman, he wrote the other three Seasons, 



viii LIFE OF THOMSON. 

officer. With this gentleman though much his 
junior, our author had contracted an early intimacy 
when at school, which improved with their years ; 
nor was it ever disturbed by any casual mistake, envy, 
or jealousy on either side : a proof that two writers 
of merit may agree, in spite of the common observa- 
tion to the contrary. Before Mr. Thomson reach- 
ed Hanover-square, an accident happened to him, 
which, as it may divert some of our readers, we shall 
here insert.. 

When our author left Scotland, lie. had received 
letters of recommendation from a gentleman of rank 
there, to some persons of distinction in London, which 
he had carefully tied up in his pocket handkerchief. 
As he sauntered along the streets, he could not with- 
hold his admiration of the magnitude, opulence and 
various objects this great metropolis continually p :y>- 
sented'to his view. These must naturally have divert- 
ed the imagination of a man of less reflection ; and it 
is not greatly to be wondered at, if Mr. Thomson's 
mind was so engrossed by these new presented 
scenes, as to be absent to the busy crowds around 
him. He often stopped to gratify his curiosity, the con- 
sequences of which he afterwards experienced. With 
an honest simplicity of heart, unsuspecting, as un- 
knowing of guilt, he was ten times longer in reaching 
Hanover-square, than one less sensible and curious 
would have been. When he arrived, he found he 
had paid for his curiosity ; his pocket was picked of 
his handkerchief, and all the letters that were wrapt 
up in it. This accident would have proved very mor~ 






LIFE OF THOMSON. ix 



tifying to a man less philosophical than Mr. Thomson : 
but he was of a temper never to be agitated ; he then 
smiled at it, and frequently made his companions 
laugh at the relation. 

Mr. Thomson, upon his coming to London, was 
likewise very kindly received by Mr. Forbes, after- 
wards Lord President of the Session, then attending 
the service of Parliament ; who, having seen a spe- 
cimen of his poetry in Scotland, was highly delighted 
with our author's genius, and recommended him to 
some of his friends ; particularly to Mr. Aikman, who 
lived in great intimacy with many persons of distin- 
guished rank and worth. This gentleman, from a 
connoisseur in painting, was become a professed 
painter ; and his taste being no less just and delicate 
in the kindred art of descriptive poetry, than in his 
own, no wonder that he soon conceived a friendship 
for our author. With what a warm return he met 
with, and how Mr. Thomson was affected by his 
friend's premature death, appears in the copy of verses 
which he wrote on that occasion. 

In the mean time, our author's reception, where- 
ever he was introduced, emboldened him to risk the 
publication of his Winter : in which, as himself was 
a novice in such matters, he was kindly assisted by 
Mr. Mallet. This poem, the first finished of all the 
Seasons, and the first performance he published, was 
originally wrote in detached pieces, or occasional 
descriptions, it was by the advice of Mr. Mallet they 
were made into one connected piece ; and it was by 
the farther advice, and at the earnest request of this 
gentleman, he wrote the other three Seasons, 



x LIFE OF THOMSON. 

The approbation the poem of Winter might meet 
"frith from some of our author's friends, was not how- 
ever, a sufficient recommendation to introduce it to 
the world. He had the mortification of offering it to 
several booksellers without success; who, perhaps, 
not being themselves qualified to judge of the merit 
of the performance, refused to risk the necessary ex- 
pences on the work of an obscure stranger, whose 
name could be no recommendation to it. These were 
severe repulses ; but, at last, the difficulty was sur- 
mounted. Mr. Mallet offered it to Mr. Millar, af- 
terwards bookseller in the Strand, who, without mak- 
ing any scruples, readily printed it. For some time 
Mr. Millar had reason to believe that he should be a 
loser by his frankness ; for the impression lay like 
waste-paper on his hands, few copies being sold, till 
by an accident its merit was discovered. One Mr. 
Whatley, a man of some taste in letters, but per- 
fectly enthusiastic in the admiration of any thing which 
pleased him, happened to cast his eyes upon it ; and 
finding something which delighted him, perused the 
whole, not without growing astonishment, that the 
poem should be unknown, and the author obscure. In 
the ecstacy of his admiration, he went from coffee- 
house to coffee-house, pointing out its beauties, and 
calling upon all men of taste to exert themselves in 
rescuing from obscurity one of the greatest geniusses 
that ever appeared. This had a very happy effect, 
for in a short time, the impression was bought up. 
Nor had those who read the poem any reason to com- 
plain of Mr. Whatley's exaggeration ; for they found 



LIFE OF THOMSON. *I 

it so completely beautiful, thafc they could not but 
think themselves happy, in doing justice to a man of 
so much merit. Such heretofore was the fate of the 
great Milton, whose works were only to be found in 
the libraries of the curious or judicious few, till Ad- 
dison's remarks spread a taste for them ; and at length 
it became unfashionable not to have read thern. 

As soon as the poem of Winter was published, 
Mr. Thomson sent a copy of it as a present io Mr. 
Joseph Mitchell, his countryman, and brother-poet, 
who not liking many parts of it, inclosed to him the 
following couplet : 

fleauties and faults so thick lie scattered here, 
Those I could read, if these were not so near. 

To which Mr. Thomson answered extempore : 

Why all not faults? injurious Mitchell, why- 
Appears one beauty to thy blasted eye ? 
Damnation worse than thine, if worse can be, 
Is all I ask, and all I want from thee. 

Upon a friend's remonstrating to Mr. Thomson, 
that the expression of blasted eye would look like a 
personal reflection, as Mr. Mitchell had really that 
misfortune, he changed the epithet blasted into blast* 
ing. But to return. 

The poem of Winter is, perhaps, the most finish- 
ed, as well as most picturesque of any of the 
four seasons : The scenes are grand and lively ; it is 
in that season that the creation appears in distress, 
and nature assumes a melancholy air ; and an imagi- 
nation so poetical as Mr. Thomson's, was admirably 
fitted to paint those vafiours, and $torms } and clouds^ 



Xii LIFE OF THOMSON. 

the very description of which fill the soul with solenifc 
dread. It is told of Mr. Riccarton, that when he first 
saw this poem, which was in a bookseller's shop in 
Edinburgh, he stood amazed ; and after he had read 
the sublime introductory lines, he dropt the poem 
from his hand, in an ecstacy of admiration. Mr. 
Thomson's digressions too, the overflowings of a ten- 
der benevolent heart, charm the reader no less ; leav- 
ing him in doubt, whether he should more admire 
the poet, or love the man. 

From this time Mr. Thomson's acquaintance was 
courted by all men of taste ; and several ladies of high 
rank and distinction became his declared patronesses ; 
among whom were the Countess of Hartford, Misa 
Drelincourt, afterwards Viscountess Primrose, Mrs. 
Stanley, and others. But the chief happiness which 
his Winter procured him was, that it brought him 
acquainted with Dr. Rundle, afterwards Lord Bishop 
of Derry ; who, upon conversing with our author, and 
finding in him qualities greater still, and of more 
value, than those of a poet, received him into his 
intimate confidence and friendship ; promoted his 
character every where ; introduced him to his great 
friend Lord Chancellor Talbot ; and some years after, 
when the eldest son of that nobleman was to make the 
tour of Europe, recommended Mr. Thomson as a 
proper companion for him. His affection and grati- 
tude to Dr. Rundle, and his indignation at the treat* 
ment that worthy prelate had met with, are finely 
expressed in his poem to the memory of Lord Talbot. 
The true cause of that undeserved treatment ha&beea 



LIFE OF THOMSON. xiii 

iSecreted from the public, as well as the dark manoeu- 
vres that were employed : but our author, who had 
the best information, places it to the account of 
Slanderous zeal, and politics infirm, 



Jealous of worth- 



The poem of Winter meeting with such general 
applause, Mr. Thomson was induced to write the 
other three Seasons, which he finished with equal 
success. Summer made its first appearance in the 
year 1727 ; Spring, in the beginning of the following 
year : and Autumn, in a quarto edition of his works, 
printed in 1730. In that edition, the Seasons are 
placed in their natural order ; and crowned with that 
inimitable Hymn, in which we view them in their 
beautiful succession, as one whole, the immediate 
effect of infinite Power and Goodness. 

Summer has many manly and striking beauties ; in 
particular, the Hymn to the Sun, in which some hints 
are taken from Mr. Cowley's Hymn to Light, is one 
of the sublime-stand most masterly efforts of genius 
we have ever seen. — The introduction to Spring is 
very poetical ; and the descriptions in this poem are 
mild, like the season they paint. — Autumn seems to 
be the most unfinished of the four Seasons. It is not, 
however, without its beauties ; of which many have 
considered the story of Lavinia, naturally and artfully 
introduced, as the most affecting. The story is in 
itself moving and tender ; and it is perhaps no diminu- 
tion to this beautiful tale, that the hint of it is taken 
from the book of Ruth in the Old Testament. 

B 



xiv LIFE OF THOMSON. 

As we would not willingly pass over any thing 
concerning our author, we beg leave to relate the 
following anecdote, though omitted both by Mr. Gib- 
ber and Mr. Murdock. 

When Mr. Thomson first came to London, he was 
in very narrow circumstances ; and, before he was 
distinguished by his writings, was many times put to 
his shifts even for a dinner. The debts he then con- 
tracted lay very heavy upon him for a long time after- 
wards ; and, upon the publication of the Seasons, one 
of his creditors arrested him, thinking that a proper 
opportunity to get his money. The report of this 
misfortune happened to reach the ears of Mr. Quin, 
who had indeed read the Seasons, but had never seen 
their author ; and, upon stricter inquiry, he was told 
that Mr. Thomson was in the bailiff's hands, at a 
spunging-house in Kolburn. Thither Quin went ; 
and, being admitted into his chamber, " Sir," said he 
in his usual tone of voice, " You don't know me, I 
believe ; but my name is Quin." Mr. Thomson re- 
ceived him very politely, and said, that though he 
could not boast of the honor of a personal acquain- 
tance, he was no stranger either to his name or his 
merit ; and very obligingly invited him to sit down. 
Quin then told him he was come to sup with him ; and 
that he had already ordered the cook to provide sup- 
per, which he hoped he would excuse. Mr. Thomson 
made the proper reply ; and then the discourse turned 
indifferently upon subjects of literature. When the 
supper was over, and the glass had gone briskly about* 
Mr. Quin then took occasion to explain himself, h.r 



LIFE OF THOMSON. xy 

rf&ying, it was now time to enter upon business.- Mr, 
Thomson declared, he was ready to serve him as far 
as his capacity would reach, in any thing he should 
command, (thinking he was come about some affair 
relating to the drama.) " Sir," says Quin, " you mis- 
take my meaning ; I owe you an hundred pounds, and 
I am come to pay you." Mr. Thomson, with a dis- 
consolate air, replied, That as he was a gentleman 
\ whom, to his knowledge he had never offended, hs 
i wondered he should seek an opportunity to reproach 
him under his misfortunes." c ' No, by G — »d," says 
Qnin, raising his voice, " I'll be damn'd before I 
would do that. I say I owe you an hundred pounds, 
and there it is," (laying a bank-note of that value be- 
fore him.) Mr. Thomson was astonished, and beg- 
ged he would explain himself. " Why," says Quin, 
" I'll tell you : Soon after I had read your Seasons, 
I took it into my head, that, as I had something in the 
world to leave behind me when I died, I would mak« 
my will ; and, among the rest of my legatees, I set 
down the author of the Seasons an hundred pounds : 
and this day, hearing that you was in this house, I 
thought I might as well have the pleasure of paying 
the money myself, as to order my executors to pay it, 
when perhaps you might have less need of it : And 
this, Mr. Thomson, is the business I came about." 
It is needless to express Mr. Thomson's grateful 
acknowledgments ; we shall leave every reader to 
conceive them. 

In the year 1727, Mr. Thomson published his 
poem to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, then lately 



*vi LIFE OF THOMSON. 

deceased ; containing a deserved encomium of that 
incomparable man, with an account of his chief 
coveries. This poem is sublimely poetical ; and yet 
so just, that an ingenious foreigner, the Count Alga- 
ratti, takes a line of it for the text of his philosophical 
dialogues : This was in part owing to the assistance 
he had of his friend Mr. Gray, a gentleman well 
versed in the Newtonian Philosophy, who, on that 
occasion, gave him a very exact, though general 
abstract of its principles. 

At this time the resentment of our merchant* 
against the Spaniards, for interrupting their trade in 
America, running very high, our author zealously 
took part in it ;. and wrote his Britannia, to rouse the 
nation to revenge. Although this poem may be the 
less read that its subject was but accidental and tem- 
porary, the spirited, generous sentiments that enrich- 
ed it can never be out of season : they will at least 
remain a monument of that love of his country, that 
devotion to the public, which he is ever inculcating 
as the perfection of virtue, and which none ever felt 
more pure or more intense than himself. 

Our author's poetical studies were now to be inter- 
rupted, or rather improved, by his attendance on the 
honorable Mr. Charles Talbot on his travels. With 
this accomplished young nobleman, Mr. Thomson 
visited most of the courts and capital cities of Europe ; 
and having staid abroad about three years, returned 
with his views greatly enlarged : not of exterior na- 
ture only, and the works of art ; but of human life 
and manners, their connections, and their religious 



LIFE OF THOMSON. xvii 

institutions. How particular and judicious his obser- 
vations were, we see in his poem of liberty, begun 
soon after his return to England. We see at the 
same time, to what a high pitch the love of his coun- 
try was raised, by the comparisons he had all along 
been making of our happy well poised government with 
those of other nations. To inspire his fellow-sub- 
jects with the like sentiments ; and to shew them by 
what means the precious freedom we enjoy may be 
preserved, and how it may be abused or lost ; he em- 
ployed two years of his life in composing that noble 
work; upon which, conscious of the importance and 
dignity of the subject, he valued himself more than 
upon all his other writings. 

While Mr. Thomson was writing the first part of 
this poem, he received a most severe shock, by the 
death of his noble friend and fellow-traveller, in the 
year 1734 : which was soon followed by another, that 
was severer still, and of more general concern, the 
death of Lord Talbot himself ; which Mr. Thomson 
so pathetically and so justly laments in the poem de- 
dicated to his memory. 

By this event, Mr. Thomson found himself, from 
an easy competency, reduced to a state of precarious 
dependence, in which he passed the remainder of his- 
life ; excepting only the two last years of it, during 
which lie enjoyed the place of Surveyor-General of 
the Leeward Islands, procured for him by the gene- 
rous frienelship of my Lord Lyttleton. 

Immediately upon hie return to England with Mr., 

Charles Talbot, the Char-cellor, in recompence of the 

b2 



xviii LIFE OF THOMSON. 

care he had taken in forming the mind of his son, 
had made him his secretary of briefs ; a place requir- 
ing little attendance, suiting his retired indolent way 
of life, and equal to all his wants. This place fell 
with his patron ; -and although the noble Lord who 
succeeded to Lord Talbot in office, kept it vacant for 
some time, always expecting when Mr. Thomson 
should apply for it, he was so dispirited, and so list- 
less to every concern of that kind, that he never took 
one step in the affair. By this unaccountable indo- 
lence, the place which he might have enjoyed with 
so little trouble, was bestowed upon another. 

Yet could not his genius be depressed, or his tem- 
per hurt, by this reverse of fortune. He resumed 
with time, his usual cheerfulness ; nor did he abate 
one article in his way of living, which, though simple 
was genial and elegant. Mr. Millar was always at 
hand to answer, or even to prevent his demands ; and 
Jie had a friend or two besides, whose hearts he knew 
were not contracted by the ample fortunes they had 
acquired, who would of themselves interpose, if they 
saw any occasion for it. 

But his chief dependence, during this long interval* 
Svas on the protection and bounty of his Royal High- 
ness Frederick Prince of Wales ; who upon the re- 
commendation of Lord Lyttleton, then his chief fa- 
vourite, settled on him a handsome allowance. A 
circumstance, Y/hich does equal honor to the patron 
and the poet, ought not here to be omitted ; that my 
Lord Lyttleton's recommendation came altogether un- 
solicited, and long before Mr. Thomson was personal- 
ly known to him. 



LIFE OF THOMSON. xi* 



is the Castle of Indolence. It was, as first, little 
more than a few detached stanzas, in the way of rail- 
lery on himself, and on some of his friends, who would 
reproach him with indolence ; while he thought them 
at least, as indolent as himself. But he saw very 
soon, that the subject deserved to be treated more 
seriously, and in a form fit to convey one of the most 
important moral lessons. It is written in imitation of 
Spencer's style ; and the obselete words, with the 
simplicity of diction in some of the lines, sometimes 
bordering on the ludicrous, were thought necessary to 
make the imitation more perfect. 

We shall now consider Mr, Thomson as a drama- 
tic writer. 

In the year 1729, about five years after he had 
been in London, he brought upon the stage his tra- 
gedy of Sophonisba, built upon the Carthagenian his- 
tory of that princess ; upon which the famous Natha- 
niel Lee has likewise written a tragedy. This play 
met with a very favourable reception from the public. 
We must not here omit two anecdotes which hap- 
pened the first night of the representation. 

Mr. Thomson it seems made one of his characters 
address Sophonisba in the following words : 

Oh ! Sophonisba, Sophonisba Oh ! 
Upon which a smart from the pit immediately cried 

out, 

Oh ! Jamie Thomson, Jamie Thomson Oh I 

However iil-natured this critic might be, in interrupt- 
ing the action of the play for the sake of a joke ; yet 
it is certain that the line ridiculed does partake of the 



xx LIFE OF THOMSON, 

false patl etic, and should be a warning to tragic poet* 
to -guard against the swelling style ; for, by aiming 
at the sublime, they are often betrayed into the bom- 
bast. This line, however, has been since changed 
by our author for one less exceptionable. 

As Mr. Thomson could not but feel all the emo- 
tions and solicitudes"of a young author the first night 
of his play, he wanted to place himself in some ob- 
scure part of the house, where he might see the re- 
presentation to the best advantage, without being 
known as the poet. He accordingly seated himself 
in the upper gallery. But such was the power of 
nature in him, that, he could not help repeating the . 
parts along with the players ; and would sometimes . 
whisper to himself, " Now such a scene is to open ;" 
by which he was soon discovered to be the author, by 
some gentlemen, who could not, on account of the , 
great , crowd, be situated in any other part of the 
house. 

After an interval of about nine years, II \ Thomson 
exhibited to the public his second tragedy, called 
Agamemnon. Mr. Pope acted a very friendly part, 
to Mr. Thomson on this occasion : he not only wrote 
two letters in its favour to the managers, but honor- - 
ed the representation on the first night with his pre- 
sence ; which, as he had not been for some time at a 
play, was considered as a very great instance of es- 
teem. The profits arising from this play were very 
considerable ; and afforded him a very seasonable 
supply after he had lost his office by the death of , 
Lord Talbot, and was still out of place. 









LIFE OF THOMSON. xxi 



In the year 1?39, Mr. Thomson offered to the 
Stage his tragedy of Edward and Eleonora 5 but, for 
political reasons, it was forbid to be acted. The 
favour of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales 
was in this one instance, of some prejudice to our 
author. For though this play contains not a line 
which could justly give offence ; yet the ministry, 
still sore from certain pasquinades, which had lately 
produced the stage -act ; and as little satisfied with that 
prince's political conduct, as he was with their 
management of the public affairs ; would not risk 
the representation of a piece written under his eye, 
and they might probably think by his command. 

This refusal drew after it another ; and in a way 
which, as it is related, was rather ludicrous. Mr* 
Paterson, a companion of Mr. Thomson, afterwards 
his deputy, and then his successor in the general- 
snrveyorship used to write out fair copies for his 
friend, when such were wanted for the press or for 
the stage. This gentleman likewise courted the 
tragic muse ; and had taken for his subject, the story 
of Arminius the German hero. But his play guilt- 
less as it was, being presented for a licence, no soon« 
er had the Censor cast his eyes on the hand-writing 
in which he had seen Edward and Eleonora, than he 
cried out, " Away with it !" and the author's profks 
were reduced to what his bookseller could afford for a 
tragedy in distress. 

By the command of his Royal Highness the prince 
of Wales, Mr, Thomson, in conjunction with Mr. 
Mallet, wrote the Masque of Alfred, for the enter- 






xxli LIFE OF THOMSON*. 

tainment of his Royal Highness's court at his sum- 
mer residence. This piece, with some alterations? 
and the music new, has been since brought upon- 
the stage by Mr. Mallet, in the year 1751. 

Mr. Thomson's next dramatic performance was 
his Tancred and Sigismunda, acted with applause in 
the year 1745. The plot is borrowed from a story 
in the celebrated romance of Gil Bias : the fable is 
very interesting ; the characters are few, but active ; 
and the attention is never suffered to wander. This 
succeeded beyond any other of Mr. Thomson's plays ; 
and from the deep romantic distress of the lovers> 
still continues to* draw crowded houses. The success 
of this piece was indeed insured from the first by- 
Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Gibber's appearing in the prin- 
cipal characters which they heightened and adorned 
with all the magic of their never failing art. 

This was the last play Mr. Thomson himself pub- 
lished, his tragedy of Coriolanus being only prepared 
for the theatre, when a fatal accident robbed the world 
of one of the best of men, and best poets, that ever 
lived in it;, 

He had always been a timorous horseman; and 
more so, in a road where a number of giddy or un- 
skilful riders are continually passing ; so that when 
the weather did not invite him to go by water, he 
would commonly walk the distance between Lon- 
don and Richmond with any acquaintance that offer- 
ed ; with whom he mi^ht chat, and rest himself, or per- 
haps dine, by the way. One summer evening being 
.done, in his walk from town to Hammersmith, he had, 




LIFE OF THOMSON. ^xili 

*over-heated himself, and, in that condition^ impru- 
*dently took a boat to cany him to Kew ; apprehending 
no bad consequence from the chill air on the river, 
which his walk to his house, at the upper end of Kew 
lane, had always hitherto prevented. But, now, the 
cold had so seized him, that next day he found him- 
self in a high fever, so much the more to be dreaded 
that he was of a full habit. This however, by the use 
of proper medicines, was removed, so that he w T as 
thought to be out of danger ,; but the fine weather 
having tempted him Once more to expose himself to 
the evening dews, iiis fever returned with violence, 
and with such symptoms as left no hopes of a cure. 
Two days had passed before his relapse was known in 
town : at last, Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Reid, with Dr. 
Armstrong, being informed of it, posted out at mid- 
night to his assistance ; but alas ! came only to endure 
a. sight of all others the most shocking to nature, the 
last agonies of their beloved friend. This lamented 
death happened on the 2 7th day of August, 1748. 

His testamentary executors were, the Lord Lyttle- 
ton, whose care of our poet's fortune and fame ceased 
not with his life ; and Mr. Mitchell, a gentleman 
•equally noted for the truth and constancy of his private 
friendships, and for his address and spirit as a public 
"minister. By their united interest, the orphan play 
of Coriolanus was brought on the stage, to the best 
advantage. The profits arising from this play, and 
from the sale of manuscripts, and other effects, more 
than satisfied all demands ; so that a very handsome 
£Ui& was remitted to his sisters in Scotland. Mi* 



xxiv LIFE OF THOMSON. 

Lord Lyttleton's prologue to this piece was admired 
as one of the best that ever had been written : The 
best sfwken it certainly was. Mr. Quin was the par- 
ticular friend of Mr. Thomson : and when he spoke 
the following lines, which are in themselves very- 
tender, all the endearments of a long acquaintance 
rose at once to his imagination, While the tears 
gushed from his eyes. 

He lov'd his friends, (forgive this gushing tear : 

Alas ! I feel I am no a&or here :) 

He lov'd his friends with such a warmth of heart, 

So clear of interest, so devoid of art : ' 

Such generous freedom, such unshaken zeal ; 

No words can speak it, but our tears may tell. 

The beautiful break in these lines had a fine effect in 
speaking. Mr. Quin here excelled himself : nor did 
he ever appear so great an actor, as at this instant 
p when he declared himself none. 

Mr. Thomson's remains were deposited in the 
church of Richmond, under a plain stone, without any 
inscription. It was not till the year 1762, that the no- 
ble design was proposed, to erect for him a funeral 
monument in Westminster Abbey. In order to 
defray the necessary expence of this undertaking, 
Mr. A. Millar published by subscription a splendid 
edition of our author's works in 4to, the entire profits 
of which he cheerfully dedicated to this purpose : 
and it was further proposed, that any remaining sum, 
after paying all expences, should be remitted to his 
relations. This generous publication met with deserv- 
ed encouragement, His present Majesty, her Royal 



LIFE OF THOMSON. xxv 

Highness the Princess Dowager of "Wales, his Royal 
Highness the Duke of York, and the principal nobility 
and gentry in Great Britain, appear among the list of 
subscribers. Nor must we omit taking notice that 
Madam Bontems, a French lady, who has obliged the 
world with a translation of the Seasons into her own 
language, (a translation equally faithful and elegant,) 
desired likewise to be a subscriber to this edition of 
Mr. Thomson's works. It was however unlucky, thafe 
by a well-intended, though ill judged parsimony, the 
execution of this work was committed to m inferior 
artist, who erected a monument, not indeed destitute 
of tnerit, but from which neither our author, nor the 
Abbey, nor the present age, will derive any honor, 

It is pretty strange, that, upon the death of Mr. 
Thomson, his brother poets did not at all exert them- 
selves, as they had lately done for one who had been 
the terror of poets all his life time. This silence 
furnished matter to one of his friends for an excellent 
satirical epigram, which we are sorry we cannot give 
the reader. Only one gentleman, Mr. Collins, who 
had lived sometime at Richmond, but forsook it when 
Mr. Thomson died, wrote an ode to his memory. 
This, for the dirge-like melancholy it breathes, and 
the warmth of affection that seems to have dictated it> 
we shall subjoin to the present account, 

Our author himself hints somewhere in his works 
that his exterior was not the most promising. His 
make was indeed rather robust than graceful ; though 
it is known, that in his youth, he had been thought 
handsome. His worst appearance was, when you 



xxvi LIFE OF THOMSON. 

saw him walking alone, in a thoughtful mood : but let 
a friend accost him, and enter into conversation, he 
would instantly brighten into a most amiable aspect, 
his features no longer the same, and his eyes darting 
a peculiar animated fire. The case was much the 
same in company ; where if it was mixed, or very 
numerous, he made but an indifferent figure : but 
with a few select friends, he was open, sprightly, and 
entertaining. His wit flowed freely, but pertinently, . 
and at due intervals, leaving room for every one to 
contribute his share. Such was his extreme sensi- 
bility, so perfect the harmony of his organs with the 
sentiments of his mind, that his looks always announc- 
ed, and half expressed, what he was about to say ; 
and his voice corresponded exactly to the manner and 
degree in which he was affected. This sensibility 
had one inconvenience attending it, that it rendered 
him the very worst reader of good poetry. A sonnet* 
or a copy of tame verses, he could manage pretty 
well, or even improve them in the reading ; but a 
passage of Virgil, Milton or Shakespeare, would 
sometimes quite oppress him, that you could hear 
little else than some ill-articulated sounds, rising a* 
from, the bottom of his breast. 

The Autumn was his favorite season for poetical 
composition, and the deep silence of the night, the 
time he commonly chose for such studies ; so that he 
would often be heard walking in his library till near 
mo/ning, humming over in his way, what he was to 
correct and write out next clay. 

The amusements of his leisure hours were civil 






»LIFE OF THOMSON. xxvii 

and natural history, voyages, and the relations of tra- 
vellers, the most authentic he could procure : and 
had his situation favoured it he would certainly have 
'excelled in gardening, agriculture, and every rural 
improvement and exercise. Although he performed 
on no instrument, he was passionately fond of music, 
and would sometimes listen a full hour at his window 
to the nightingales in Richmond gardens. Nor was 
his taste less exquisite, in the arts of painting, sculp- 
ture, and architecture. In his travels, he had seen 
all the most celebrated monuments of antiquity, and 
the best productions of modern art ; and studied them 
so minutely, and with so true a judgment, that in 
some ef his descriptions in the poem of Liberty, w@ 
have the master pieces there mentioned, placed in a 
stronger light perhaps than if we saw them with our 
eyes. His collection of prints, and some drawings 
from the antique, came afterwards into the possession 
of his friend Mr.. Gray of Richmond-Hill. 

As for his more distinguishing qualities of mind 
mid heart, they are better represented in his writings 
than they can be by the pen of any biographer. 
There, his love of mankind, of his country and 
friends ; his devotion to the Supreme Being, founded 
on the most elevated and just conceptions of his ope- 
rations and providence, shine out in every page. His 
tenderness of heart was unbounded, extending even 
to the brute creation. He had a grateful soul, always 
ready to acknowledge a favour received : nor did he 
ever forget his old benefactors, notwithstanding a long 
.absence, new acquaintance, or additional eminence ; 



sxviii LIFE OF THOMSON. 

of which the following instance cannot be unacccpta* 
ble to the reader : 

Some time before Mr. Thomson's fatal illness, a 
gentleman inquired for him at his house in Kewlane, 
near Richmond, where he then lived. This gentle- 
man had been his acquaintance when very young, and 
proved to be Dr. Gusthart, the son of the Reverend 
Mr. Gusthart, formerly mentioned, who had been 
Mr. Thomson's patron in the early part of his life. 
The visitor sent not in his name ; but only intimated 
to the servant, that an old acquaintance desired to see 
Mr. Thomson. Mr. Thomson came forward to re- 
ceive him ; and, looking stedfastly at him (for they 
had not seen one another for many years.) said, 
" Troth, Sir, I cannot say I ken your countenance 
welL^ Let me therefore crave your name." Which 
the gentleman no sooner mentioned, than the tears 
gushed from Mr. Thomson's eyes. He could only 
reply, " Good God ! are you the son of my dear 
friend, my old benefactor ?" and then, rushing to his 
arms, he tenderly embraced him, rejoicing at so un- 
expected a meeting. 

Such was the heart of Mr. Thomson, whose life 
■was as unoffensive as his page was moral : For of all 
our poets, he is the farthest removed from whatever 
has even the appearance of undecency ; and,, as my 
Lord Lyttleton happily expresses it in his prologue to 

Coriolamis. 

< — His chaste muse employ'd her heav'n taught lyre 
None but the noblest passions to inspire ; 
Not one immoral, one corrupted thought,, 
One line which dying he could wisk to blot. 



ODE 



ON THB 

DEATH OF MR. THOMSON. 

BY MR. COLLINS. 



The Scene of the following Stanzas is supposed to lie en 
the Thames^ near Richmond* 

IN yonder grave a Druid lies 

Where slowly winds the stealing wave I 

The year's best sweets shall duteous rise 
To deck its Poet's sylvan grave ! 

In yon deep bed of whispering reeds 

His airy harp* shall now be laid, 
That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds, 

May love, thro' life, the soothing shade, 

Then maids and youths shall linger here, 
And while it sounds at distance swell, 

Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear, 

To hear the Woodland Pilgrim's knell. 

*The harp ofEolus, of which see 9 Description in the 
Castle of Indolence. 

c2 



kxx ODE ON THE 

Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore 

When Thames in summer wreaths is drefct. 

And oft suspend the dashing' our 
To bid his gentle spirit rest ! 

And oft as Ease and Health retire 

To breezy lawn, or forest deep, 
The friend shall view yon whitening f spiff,, 

And mid the varied landscape weep. 

But Thou, who own'st that earthly bed, 
Ah ! what will every dirge avail ? 

Or tears, which Love and Pity shed 
That mourn beneath the gliding sail ! 

^et lives there one, whose heedless eye 

Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimm'ring near I 

[With him sweet Bard, may fancy die, 
And joy desert the blooming year, 

But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide 
No sedge -crown'd sisters now attend, 

Now waft me from the green hill's side 
Whose cold turf hides the buried friend. 

And see, the fairy valleys fade, 

Dun Night has veil'd the solemn view ! 

Yet once again, dear parted shade, 
Meek Nature's Child, again adieu! 

<£ Richmond Church.* 



DEATH OF THOMSON. xxxi 

The genial meads assigned to bless 
Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom, 

Their hinds, and shepherd-girls shall dre&s 
With simple hands thy rural tomb. 

Long, long, thy stone, and pointed clay, 
Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes, 

O ! vales, and wild woods, shall He say^ 
In yonder grave Your Druid lies I 



SPRING. 



THE ARGUMENT. 

The subject firoposed... .Inscribed to the Countess af" 
Hartford. ...The Season is described as it affects the 
warious Parts of Nature, ascending from the lower 
to the higher ; and mixed with Digressions arising 
from the Subject. ..Ms influence on inanimate Matter, 
on Vegetables, on brute Animals , and last on Man , 
concluding with a dissuasive from the wild and ir- 
regular Passion of Love opposed to that of u pure 
mid happy kind. 




SPRING, 



COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness come, 
And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, 
While niusi : wakes around, veil'd in a shower 
Of shadcr big roses, ur plains descend. 

O Hartford, fitted , or to shine in courts 
h unaffected grace, or walk the plain 
With- innocence \ .;_ meditation join'd 
In sc: assemble ge. listen to my song, 
Which thy owrtseasbn painfs ; when nature all 
Is blooming, and benevolent, like thee. 

And see where surly Winter passes off, 
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts : 
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill, 
The shattered forest, and the ravag'd vale ; 
While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, 
Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost, 
The mountains lift their green heads to the sky. 
As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, 
And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, 
Chills the pale morn, and bids, his driving sleets 
Deform the day delightless ; so that scarce 
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht, 
To shake the sounding marsh ; or from the shore 



36 SPRING. 

The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath, 
And sing their wild notes to the listening waste* 

At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, 
And the blight Bull receives him. Then no more 
Th' expansive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold ; 
But, full of life and vivifying soul, 
Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thi£» 
Fleecy and white, o'er all surrounding heav'n. 

Forth fly the tepid airs ; and unconfin'd 
Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. 
Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives 
Relenting nature, and his lusty steers 
Drives from their stalls, to where the well-used plow 
Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. 
There unre fusing to the harness'd yoke, 
They lend their shoulder, and bjegin their toil, 
Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. 
Meanwhile, incumbent o'er the shining share, 
The master leans, removes the obstructing clay* 
Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe* 

While, thro* the neighbouring fields the sower 
stalks, 
With m#asur'd step ; and, liberal throws the grain 
Into the faithful bosom of the ground, 
The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene. 

B§ gracious, Heaven ! for now laborious man 
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, blow i 
Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, descend \ 
And temper all, thou world -reviving sun, 
Into the perfect year ! Nor ye, who live 
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride* 



SPRING. 37 

Think these lost themes unworthy of your ear 5 

Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 

To wide imperial Rome, in the full height 

Of elegance and taste, by Greece refin'd. 

In ancient times, the sacred plow employed 

The kings, and awful fathers of mankind : 

And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 

Are but the beings of a summer's day, 

Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm 

Of mighty war ; then, with victorious hand, 

Disdaining little delicacies, seiz'd 

The plow, and greatly independent scorn'd 

All the vile stores corruption can bestow. 

Ye generous Britons, venerate the plow ! 
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales, 
L§t Autumn spread his treasures to the sun, 
Luxuriant, and unbounded ! As the sea, 
Far thro' his azure turbulent domain, 
Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores 
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports ; 
So with superior boon may your rich soil, 
Exuberant, nature's better blessings pour 
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, 
And be th' exhaustless granary of a world ! 

Nor only thro' the lenient air this change, 
Delicious, breathes ; the penetrative sun, 
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat 
Of vegetation, sets the steaming power 
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth, 
In various hues ; but chiefly thee, gay Green f 
Thou smiling nature's universal robe ! 



SB SPRING. 

United light and shade ! where the sight dwells 
With growing strength, and ever-new delight. 

From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill. 
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
And swells, and deepens, to the cherish'cl eye c 
The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 
Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd 
In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales ; 
Where the deer rustle thro' the twining brake, 
And the birds sing conceal'd. At once array'd 
In all the colours of the flushing year, 
By nature's swift and secret-working hand, 
The garden glows and fills the liberal air, 
With lavish fragrance ; while the promised fruk 
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceiv'd, 
Within its crimson folds. Now from the town 
Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damp% 
Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, 
Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling 

drops 
From the bent bush, as thro 5 the verdant maze 
Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my walk ; 
Or taste the smell of dairy ; or ascend 
Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains, 
And see the country, far diffus'd around, 
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower 
Of mingled blossoms ; where the raptured eye 
Hurries from joy to joy, and hid beneath 
The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies. 

If, brush'd from Russian wilds, a cutting gale 



SPRING. 39 

Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings 

The clamy mildew ; or, dry-blowing, breathe 

Untimely frost ; before whose baleful blast 

The full blown Spring thro* all her foliage shrinks. 

Joyless and dead, a wide dejected waste. 

For oft, engender'd by the hazy North, 

Myriads on myriads ; insect armies waft 

Keen en the poison'd breeze ; and wasteful eat, 

Thro 5 buds and bark, into the blacken'd core, 

Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oft 

The sacred sons of vengeance ! on whose course 

Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. 

To check this plague the skilful farmer chaff, 

And blazing straw, before his orchard burns ; 

Till, all involv'd in smoke, the latent foe 

From every cranny suffocated fails : 

Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust 

Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe, 

Or, when the envenomed leaf begins to curl, 

With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest : 

Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill, 

The little trooping birds unwisely scares. 

Be patient, swains ; these cruel-seeming winds 
Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep, repressed 
Those deep'ning clouds on clouds, surcharged wfci 

rain, 
That o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne, 
In endless train, would quench the summer blaze, 
And, cheerless, drown the crude unripen'd year. 

The north-east spends his rage, and now, shut up 
Within his iron caves, th' effusive south 



40 SPRING. 

Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven 

Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers distent. 

At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, 

Scarce staining ether ; but by fast degrees, 

In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails 

Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep 

Sits on the horizon round a settled gloom, 

Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, 

Oppressing life, but lovely, gentle, kind, 

And full of every hope and every joy, 

The wish of nature. Gradual, sinks the breeze, 

Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 

Is heard to quiver thro* the closing woods, 

Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves 

Of aspin tall. Th' uncurling floods diffus'd 

In glassy breadth, seem thro' delusive lapse 

Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all, 

And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks 

Drop the dry sprig, and mute-imploring eye 

The failing verdure. Hush'd in short suspense. 

The plumy people streak their wings with oil. 

To throw the lucid moisture trickling off; 

And wait th' approaching sign to strike, at once, 

Into the general choir. Even mountains, vales 

And forests seem, impatient to demand 

The promis'd sweetness. Man superior walks 

Amid the glad creation, musing praise, 

And looking lively gratitude. At last, 

The clouds consign their treasures to the fields., 

And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool 

Prelusive drops, let all their moist a re ^flow, 






SPRING. 4> 

In large effusion o'er the freshened world. 

The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard, 

By such as wander thro' the forest-walks, 

Beneath the umbrageous multitude ofleaves. 

But who can hold the shade, while heaven descends 

In universal bounty, shedding herbs, 

And fruits, and flowers, on nature's ample lap ? 

Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth ; 

And, while the milky nutriment distills, 

Beholds the kindling country colour round. 

Thus ail day long the full distended clouds 
Indulge tbeir genial stores, and well shower'd earth 
Is deep enrich'd with vegetable life ; 
Till, in the western' sky, the downward sun 
Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush 
Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 
The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes 
Th' illumined mountain, thro 5 the forest streams. 
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, 
Far smoaking o'er th' interminable plain, 
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 
Moist, bright, and green, the landscape laughs around, 
Full swell the woods ; their every music wakes, 
Mix*d in wild concert with the warbling brooks 
Increas'd, the distant bleatings of the hills, 
And hollow lows responsive from the vales, 
Whence blending ail the sweeten'd zephyr springs, 
Meantime refracted from yon eastern cloud, 
Bestriding earth, the grand ethereal bow 
Shoots up immense ; and every hue unfolds, ' 

ijn fair proportion running from the red, 

d2 



42" 

To where the violet fades into the sky. 

Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 

Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; 

And to the sage instructed eye, unfold 

The various twine of light, by thee disclos'd 

From the white mingling maze. Not so the swai% 

He wondering views the bright enchantment bend. 

Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs 

To catch the falling glory ; but amazM 

Beholds th' amusive arch before him fly, 

Then vanish quite away. Still night succeeds* 

A softened shade, and saturated earth 

Awaits the morning beam to give to light, 

Rais'd through ten thousand different plastic tubes,, 

The balmy treasures of the former day. 

Then spring the lively herbs, profusely wild, 
O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power 
Of botanist to number up their tribes ; 
Whether he steals along the lonely dale, 
In silent search ; or thro' the forest, rank 
With what the dull incurious weeds account, 
Bursts his blind way ; or climbs the mountain rock, 
Tir'd by the nodding verdure of its brow. 
With &uch a liberal hand has nature flung 
Their seeds abroad, blown them about in winds, 
Innumerous mix'd them with the nursing mould, 
The moistening current, and prolific rain. 

But who their virtues can declare ? Who pierce 
With vision pure, into these secret stores 
Of health, and life, and joy ? The food of man, 
While yet he liv'd in innocence^ and told 



SPRING. 4S 

A length of golden years, unflesh'd in blood, 
A stranger to the savage arts of life, 
Deaths rapine, carnage, surfeit and disease, 
The Lord, and not the tyrant of the world. 

The first fresh dawn then wak'd the gladden \l race 
Of uncorrupted man, nor blush'd to see 
The sluggard sleep beneath its sacred beam. 
For their light slumbers gently fum'd away .; 
And up they rose as vigorous as the sun. 
Or to the culture of the willing glebe, 
Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock. 
Meantime the song went round ; and dance and sport, 
Wisdom and friendly talk, successive stole 
Their hours away. While in the rosy vale 
Love breath'd his infant sighs from anguish free^ 
And full replete with bliss ; save the sweet pain? 
That, inly thrilling, but exalts it more. 
Nor yet injurious act, nor surly deed, 
Was known among these happy sons of Heaven ■; 
For reason and benevolence wxre law. 
Harmonious Nature too looked smiling on. 
Clear shone the skies, cooFd with eternal gales', 
And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun 
Shot his best rays, and still the gracious clouds 
Dropp'd fatness down; as o'er the swelling mead,. 
The herds and Hocks commixing, play'd Secure. 
This when emergent from the gloomy wood, 
The glaring lion saw, his horrid heart 
Was meeken'd, and he join'd his sullen joy, 
Kor music held the whole in perfect peace : 
Soft sigh'd the flute.; the tender voice was heard* 



m SPRING, 

Warbling the vari'd heart ; the woodlands round 
Appli'd their quire ; and winds and waters flow'd 
In consonance. Such were those prime of days. 
But now those white unblemish'd manners, whence 
The fabling poets took their golden age, 
Are found no more amid these iron times, 
These dregs of life ! Now the distemper'd mind 
Has lost that concord of harmonious powers, 
Which forms the soul of happiness ; and ail 
Is oft the poise within \ the passions all 
Have burst their bounds : a&d reason half i 
Or impotent, or else approvipg, sees 
The foul disorder senseless and deform'd 
Convulsive anger storms at large ; or pale ? 
And silent, settles into fell revenge.. 
Base envy withers at another*s joy, 
And hates that excellence it cannot reach. 
Desponding fear, of feeble fancies full, 
Weak and unmanly, loosens every. power* 
Even love itself is bitterness of soul, 
A pensive anguish pining at the heart ; 
Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no more 
That noble wish, that never cloy'd desire, 
Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone 
To bless the dearer object of its flame. 
Hope sickens with extravagance ; and grief, 
Of life impatient, into madness swells ; 
Or in dead silence wastes the weeping hours 
These and a thousand mixt emotions more, 
From ever-changing views of good and ill, 
. ; Form'd infinitely various, vex the mind 






SPRING. 45 

With endless storm : whence, deeply rankling, grows 

The partial thought, a listless unconcern, 

Cold and averting from our neighbor's good ; 

Then dark disgust, and hatred, winding wiles, 

Coward deceit, and ruffian violence : 

At last* extinct each social feeling, fell 

And joyless inhumanity pervades 

And petrifies the heart. Nature disturbed 

li deemed vindictive, to have changed her course. 

Hence in old dusky time, a deluge came : 
When the deep cleft disparting orb, that arched 
The central waters round, impetuous rush'd 
With universal burst, into the gulph, 
And o'er the high pii'd hills of fractured earth 
Wide dash'd the waves, in undulation vast ; 
Till, from the centre to the streaming clouds, 
A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. 

The Seasons since have, with severer sway, 
Dppress'd a broken world : the Winter keen 
Shook forth his waste of snows ; and Summer shot 
His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before 
Green'd all the year; and fruits and blossoms 

blush'd, 
In social sweetness, on the self same bough. 
Pure was the temperate air ; an even calm 
Perpetual reign'd, save what the zephyrs bland 
Breatlvd o'er the blue expansa ; for then nor storms 
Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage. 
Seund slept the waters : no sulphureous glooms 
Swell'd in the sky, anient the lightening forth ; 
While sickly damps, and cold autumnal fogs« 



4,6 SPRING. 

Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life. 
But now, of turbid elements the sport, 
From clear to cloudy tost, from hot tef cold, 
And dry to moist, with inward-eating change. 
Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought? 
Their period finished ere 'tis well begun. 

And yet the wholesome herb neglected dies 4 
Though with the pure exhilirating soul 
Of nutriment and health, and vital powers, 
Beyond the search of art, 'tis copious blest. 
For, with hot ravine fir'd, ensanguin'd man 
Is now become the lion of the plain, 
And worse. The wolf, who from the nightly fold 
Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk*" 
Nor wore her warming fleece ; nor has the steer, 
At whose strong chest the deadly tyger hangs, 
"E'er plowed for him. They too are temper'd high, 
With hunger stung and wild necessity, 
Nor lodges pity in their shaggy breast. 
But man, whom Nature form'd of milder clay, 
With every kind emotion in his heart, 
And taught alone to weep ; while from her lap 
She pours ten thousand delicacies, herbs, 
And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain 
Or beams that gave them birth : shall he, fair form I 
Who wears sweet smiles, and looks erect on heaven, 
E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd, 
And dip his tongue in gore ? The beast of prey 
Blood stained, deserves to bleed ; but you, ye flocks 
What have you done ; ye peaceful people, what, 
To merit death ? you, who have given us milk 



SPRING. 47 

In luscious streams, and lent us your own coat 
Against the winter's cold ? And the plain ox 5 
That harmless, honest, guileless animal, 
In what has he offended ? he whose toil, 
Batient and ever ready, clothes the land 
With all the pomp of harvest ; shall he hleed 5 
And struggling groan beneath the cruel hands 
Even of the clown he feeds ? and that perhaps^ 
To swell the riot of the autumnal feast, 
Won by his labour ? Thus the feeling heart 
Would tenderly suggest : but 'tis enough, 
In this late age, adventurous to have touch'd 
Light on the numbers of the Samian sage, 
High Heaven forbids the bold presumptuous -strain*. 
Whose wisest will has fix'd us in a state 
That must not yet to pure perfection rise. 

Now when the first foul torrent, of the brooks 
Sweird with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away ; 
And, whitening, down their mossy tinctur'd stream. 
Descends the billowy foam i now is the time, 
While yet the dark bi*own water aids the guile* 
To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled, fly,. 
The rod fine tapering with elastic spring, 
SnatchM from the hoary steed the floating line* 
And all thy slender wat'ry stores prepare. 
But let not on thy hook the tortur'd Worm* 
Convulsive, twist in agonizing folds ; 
Which, by rapacious hunger swallow'd deep, 
Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding breast 
Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch*, 
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 



<8 - SPRING. 

When with his lively ray the potent sun 
Has pierc'd the streams, and rouz'd the finny race* 
Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair ; 
Chief should the western breezes curling play, 
And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds. 
High to their fount, this day, amid the hills, 
And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks \ 
The next, pursue their rocky channeled maze, 
Down to the river, in whose ample wave 
Their little naiads love to sport at large. 
Just in the dubious point, where with the pool 
Is mixVl the trembling stream, or where it boils 
Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank 
Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly ; 
And as you lead it round in artful curve, 
With eye attentive mark the springing game* 
Strait as above the surface of the flood 
They wanton rise, or urg'd by hunger leap, 
Then fix with gentle twitch, the barbed hook : 
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, 
And to the shelving shore slow dragging some, 
With varioias hand proportion'd to their force. 
If yet too young, and easily deceiv'd, 
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod, 
Him, piteous of his youth and the short space 
He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven, 
Soft disengage, and back into the stream 
The speckled captive throw. But should you lure 
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook t 



SPRING. 49 

Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ; 
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 
The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear* 
At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun 
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death, 
With sullen plunge. At once he darts along, 
Deep-struck, and runs out all the lengthened line ; 
Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 
The cavern'd bank, his old secure abode ; 
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand. 
That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 
Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage, 
Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 
And to his fate abandoned, to the shore 
You gaily drag your unresisting prize. 

Thus pass the temperate hours ; but when the sua 
Shakes from his noon-day throne the scattering clouds ; 
Even shooting listless langour thro 1 the deeps, 
Then seek the bank where flowering elders croud, 
Where scatter'd wild the lily of the vale 
Its balmy essence breathes, where cowslips hang 
The dewy head, where purple violets lurk, 
With all the lowly children of the shade : 
Or lie reclin'd beneath yon spreading ash, 
Hung o'er the steep ; whence, borne on liquid wing 
The sounding culver shoots ; or where the hawk, 
High, in the beetling cliff, his airy builds, 
There let the classic page thy fancy lead 



50 ' SPRING. 

Thro' rural scenes, such as the Mantuan swain 
Paints in the matchless harmony of song, 
Or catch thyself the landscape-, gliding swift 
Athwart imagination's vivid eye : 
Or by the vocal woods and waters lull'd, 
And lost in lonely musing, in the dream, 
Confus'd, of careless solitude, where mix 
Ten thousand wandering images of things. 
Soothe every gust of passion into peace ; 
All but the swellings of the softened heart ; 
That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind. 

Behold yon breathing prospect bids the muse 
Throw all her beauty forth. But who can paint 
Like Nature ? Can imagination boast, 
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers! 
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 
And lose them in each other, as appears 
In every bud that blows ? If fancy then 
Unequal fails beneath the pleasing task, 
Ah what shall language do ..? ah where find words 
Ting'd with so many colours : and whose power, 
To life approaching, may perfume my lays 
With that fine oil, those aromatic gales, 
That in exhaustive flow continual round ? 

Yet tho' successful, will the toil delight. 
Come then, ye virgins and ye youths, whose hearts 
Have felt the raptures of refining love ; 
And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song ! 
Form'd by the Graces, loveliness itself ! 
Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and sweet$ 
Those looks demure, that deeply pierce the soul, 



I 



SPRING. 51 

Where, with the light of thoughtful reason mix'd, 

Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart : 

Oh come ! and while the rosy footed May 

Steals blushing on, together let us tread 

The morning dews, and gather in their prime 

Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided hair, 

And thy lovM bosom that improves their sweets, 

See, where the winding vale its lavish stores, 
Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lilly drinks 
The latent rill, scarce oozing thro 5 the grass 
Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid bank, 
In fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk. 
Where the breeze blows from yon extended field 
Of blossom'd beans. Arabia cannot boast 
A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence 
Breathes thro' the sense, and takes the ravished soul, 
Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot, 
Full of fresh verdure, and unnumber'd flowers, 
The negligence of Nature, wide and wild ; 
Where, undisguis'd by mimic Art, she spreads 
Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. 
Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 
In swarming millions, tend : around, athwart. 
Thro 5 the soft air, the busy nations fly, 
Cling to the bud, and with inserted tube, 
Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul, 
And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare 
The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows. 
And yellow load them with the luscious spoil. 

At length the finish'd garden to the view 
Its vistas opens, and its alleys green, 



ft SPRING. 

Snatch'd thro' the verdant maze, the hurried eye 

Distracted wanders ; now the bowery walk 

Of covert close where scarce a speck of day 

Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted sweeps s 

Now meets the bending sky ; the river now 

Dimpling along, the breezy ruffled lake, 

The forest darkening round, the glittering spire*, 

Th/ ethereal mountain, and the distant main. 

But why so far excursive ? when at hand, 

Along these blushing borders, bright with dew, 

And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers 

Fair handed Spring unbosoms every grace ; 

Throws out the snow-drop and the crocus first ; 

The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, 

And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes ; 

The yellow wall flower, stain'd with iron-brown j 

And lavish stock that scents the garden round : 

From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed, 

Anemonies ; auriculas, enrich'd 

With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves ; 

And full ranunculas, of glowing red. 

Then comes the tulip race, where Beauty plays 

Her idle freaks ; from family diffus'd 

To family, as flies the father dust, 

The varied colours run ; and, while they break 

On the charm'd eye, the exulting florist marks, 

With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. 

No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud, 

First born of Spring, to Summer's musky tribes ; 

Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white, 

Low bent, and blushing inward ; nor jonquils^ 






SPRING. 51 

Of potent fragrance ; nor Narcissus fair, 

As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still ; 

Nor broad carnations, nor gay-spotted pinks i 

Nor, shower'd from ev'ry bush, the damask rose. 

Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells, 

With hues on hues expression cannot paint, 

The breath of Nature and her endless bloom. 

Hail, source of being ! universal soul 
Of Heaven and earth ! essential presence, hail I 
To thee I bend the knee ; to thee my thoughts, 
Continual, climb ; who,, with a master hand, 
Hast the great whole into perfection touch'd, 
By thee the various vegetative tribes, 
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves^, 
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew > 
By thee disposed into congenial soils, 
Stands each attractive plant, and sucks and swells 
The juicy tide ; a twining mass of tubes. 
At thy command the vernal sun awakes 
The torpid sapj detruded to the root 
By wint'ry winds ; that now in fluent dance, 
And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads 
All this innumerous-coloured scene of things, 

As rising from the vegetable world 
My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 
My painting Muse ; and hark, how loud the woods 
Invite you forth in all your gayest trim. 
Lend me your song, ye nightingales ! oh pour 
The mazy running soul of melody 
Into my varied verse ! while I deduce, 
From the first nets the hollow cuckow sings, 

E 2. 



>4 SPRING, 

The symphony of Spring, and touch a theme- 
Unknown to fame, the Passion of the groves.. 

When first the soul of love is sent abroad. 
Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart 
Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin, 
In gallant thought to plume the painted wing-; 
And try again the long forgotten strain, 
At first faint warbled. But no sooner grows. 
The soft profusion prevalent, and wide, 
Than, all alive, at once their joys o'er flows 
In music unconnVd. Up springs the lark, 
Shrill-voic'd, and loud, the messenger of morn •;• 
Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings 
Amid the dawning clouds r and from their haunts 
Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copse 
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush 
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads 
Of the coy quiristers, that lodge within,. 
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush 
And wood-lark, o'er the kind-contending throng- 
Superior heard, run through the sweetest length 
Of notes ; when listening Philomela deigns, 
To let them joy, and purposes in thought 
Elate, to make her night excel their day. 
The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake ;.. 
The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove ; 
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze 
Pour'dout profusely, silent. Join'd to these 
Innumerous songsters, in the freshening shade 
Of new sprung leaves, their modulations mix 
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw. 



SPRING. 55 

And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone, 
Aid the full concert ; while the stock-dove breathes 
A melancholy murmur through the whole. 

'Tis love creates their melody, and all 
This waste of music is the voice of love ; 
That even to birds, and beasts, the tender arts 
Of pleasing teaches. Henc& the glossy kind 
Try every winning way inventive love 
Can dictate^ and in courtship to their mates 
Pour forth their little souls. First, wide around^ 
With distant awe, in airy rings they rove, 
Endeavoring by a thousand tricks to catch 
The cunning, conscious, half-averted glance 
Of their regardless charmer, Should she seem. 
Softening the least approvance to bestow, 
Their colours burnish, and by hope inspir'd, 
They brisk advance ; then, on a sudden struck, 
Retire disordered ; then again approach ; 
In fond rotation spread the spotted wing* 
And shiver^f cry feather with, desire.. 

Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods 
They haste away, ail as their fancy leads, 
Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts ; 
That Nature's great command may be obey'd : 
Nor all the sweet sensations they perceive 
Indulged in vain. Some to the holly^hedge 
Nestling repair, and to the thicket some ; 
Some to, the rude protection of the thorn 
Commit their feeble offspring : The cleft tree 
Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests. 



56 SPRING, 

Others apart far in the grassy dale, 

Or roughening waste, their humble t exture weave. 

But most in woodland solitudes delight, 

In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, 

Steep, and divided by a babbling brook, 

Whose murmurs soothe them all the live long day? 

When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots 

Of hazel, pendant o'er the plantive stream, 

They frame the first foundation of their domes, 

Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, 

AncLbound with clay together. Now 'tis nought 

But restless hurry thro*" the busy air, 

Beat by unnumber'd wings. The swallow sweeps 

The slimy pool, to build his hanging house 

Intent. And often, from the careless back 

Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills 

Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobserved*, 

Steal from the barn a straw : till soft and warm 

Clean and complete, their habitation grows. 

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits, 
Not to be tempted from her tender task. 
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight. 
Though the whole loosened Spring around her -blows*. 
Her sympathizing lover takes his stand 
High on th* opponent bank, and ceaseless sings 
The tedious time away ; or else supplies 
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits 
To pick the scanty meal. Th' appointed time,. 
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young, 
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life, 
Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, 



SPRING. 57 

A helpless family, demanding food 

With constant clamour ; O what passions then, 

What melting sentiments of kindly care, 

On the new parents seize ! Away they fly 

Affectionate, and undesiring bear 

The most delicious morsel to their young ; 

Which equally distributed, again 

The search begins. Even so it gentle pair, 

By fortune sunk, but form'd of generous mould, 

And charmed with cares beyond the vulgar breast? 

In some lone cot amid the distant woods, 

Sustain'd alone by providential heaven, 

Oft as the weeping eye their infant train, 

Check their own appetites, and give them all. 

Nor toil alone the scorn : exalting love, 
By the great father of the Spring inspir'd, 
Gives instant courage to the fearful race 
And to the simple art. With stealthy wing, 
Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest, 
Amid a neighboring bush they silent drop, 
An4 whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive 
Th' unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the head 
Of wandering swain, the white- wing'd plover wheels 
Her sounding flight, and then directly on 
In long excursion skims the level lawn. 
To tempt him from her nest. The wild duck, hence 
O'er the rough moss, and o'er, the trackless waste 
The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud ! to lead 
The hot pursuing spaniel far astray. 

Be not the muse asham'd, here to bemoan. 
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant M&H 



5S SPRING. 

Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
From liberty confin'd, and boundless air. 
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull- 
Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost ; 
Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes 
Which, clear and vigorous r warbles from the beech, 
O then, ye friends of love and love-taught song,- 
Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art forbear ; 
If on your bosom innocence can win, 
Music engage, or piety persuade- 
But let not chief the nightingale lament 
Her ruin'd care, too delicately fram'd 
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage, 
Oft when, returning with her loaded billy 
The astomsh'd mother finds a vacant nest. 
By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns 
Robb'd, to the ground, the vain provision falls ; 
Her pinions ruffle, and low-drooping scarce 
Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; 
Where all abandon'd to despair, she sings 
Her sorrows through the night ; and, on the bought 
Sole sittings still at every dying fall 
Takes up again her lamentable strain 
Of winding woe ; till wide around, the woods 
Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 

But now the feather'd youth their former bounds, 
Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their wings* 
Demand the free possession of the sky : 
This one glad office more, and then dissolves 
Parental love at once, now needless grown, 
XJnlavishM wisdom never works in vain. 




SPRING. 59 

*Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, 
When nought but balm is breathing through the 

woods, 
With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes 
Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad 
On Nature's common, far as they can see, 
Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the boughs 
Dancing about, still at the giddy verge 
Their resolution fails ; their pinions still, 
Jn loose libration stretch'd, to trust the void 
Trembling refuse : till down before them fly 
The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command, 
Or push them off, The surging air receives 
Its plumy burden ; and their self taught wings 
Winnow the waving element. On ground, 
Alighted, bolder up again they lead, 
Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight, 
Till vanished every fear, and every power 
Rous'd into life and action, light in air 
Th' acquitted parents see their soaring race? 
And once rejoicing never know them more, 
High from the summit of a craggy cliff, 
Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns 
On utmost *Kilda's shore, whose lonely race 
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds, 
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, 
Strong-pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire. 
Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own, 
| He drives them from his fort, the towering scat, 

* The farthest of the western islands of Scotland, 



60 SPRING. 

For ages* of his empire ; which, in peace, 
Unstained he holds, while many a league to sea 
He wings his course, and preys in distant isles. 

Should I my steps turn to the rural seat, 
Whose lofty elms, and venerable oaks, 
Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs, 
Jn early Spring, his airy city builds, 
And ceaseless caws amusive ; there well pleas'd 
I might the various polity survey 
Of the mixt household kind. The careful hen 
Galls all her chirping family around, 
Fed and defended by the fearless cock, 
Whose breast with ardour flames, as on he walks, 
Graceful and crows defiance. In the pond, 
The finely-checker'd duck, before her train, 
R<>ws garrulous. The stately sailing swan 
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale ; 
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle, 
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh, 
Loud threatening, reddens ; while the peacock 

spreads 
His every-coloured glory to the sun, 
And swims in radient majesty along, 
O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove 
Flies thick in amorous chace, and wanton rolls 
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck. 

While thus the gentle tenants of the shade 
Indulge their purer loves, the rougher World 
Of brutes below, rush furious into flame, 
And fierce desire. Thro 5 all his lusty vein* 





SPRING. 61 

The bull, deep-scorch'd, the raging passion feels. 

Of pasture sick, and negligent of food, 

Scarce seen, he \yades among the yellow broom, 

While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays 

Luxuriant shoot ; or thro' the mazy wood 

Dejected wanders, nor th 5 enticing bud 

Crops, tho' it presses on his careless sense, 

And oft, in jealous mad'ning fancy wrapt, 

He seeks the fight ; and, idly butting, feigns 

His rival gor'd in every knotty trunk. 

Him should he meet, the bellowing war begins : 

Their eyes flash fury; to thehollow'd earth, 

Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds 

And groaning deep, th* impetuous battle mix ; 

While the fair heifer, balmy breathing, near, 

Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed, 

With this hot impulse seiz'd in every nerve, 

Nor heeds the rein, nor hears tbe sounding thong ; 

Blows are not felt ; but tossing high his head, 

And by the well known joy to distant plains 

Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 

O'er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains flies ; 

And, neighing, on the sereal summit takes 

Th' exciting gale ; then, steep descending cleaves 

The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, 

Even where the madness of the straiten'd stream 

Turns in black eddies round : such is the force 

With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. 

Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring 
Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep : 
From the deep ooze and gelid cavern rouz'd, 



62 SPRING. 

They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. 

Dire where the strain, and dissonant, to sing 

The cruel raptures of the savage kind : 

How by this flame their native wrath sublim'd, 

They roam amid the fury of their heart, 

The far resounding waste in fiercer bands, 

And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme 

I sing enraptur'd, to the British Fair, 

Forbids ; and leads me to the mountain -brow, 

Where sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 

Inhaling, healthful the descending sun. 

Around him feeds his many bleating flock, 

Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs, 

This way and that convolv'd, in friskful glee, 

Their frolicks play. And now the sprightly race_ 

Invites them forth ; when swift the signal given, 

They start away, and sweep the massy mound 

That runs around the hill ; the rampart once 

Of iron war, in ancient barbarous times, 

When disunited Britain ever bled, 

Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew 

To this deep laid indissoluble state, 

Where wealth and commerce lift their golden heads ; 

And o'er our labours, Liberty and Law, 

Impartial, watch ; the wonder of a world ! 

What is this mighty Breath, ye sages, say, 
That in a powerful language, felt, not heard, 
Instructs the fowls of heaven ; and through their 

breast 
These arts of love diffuses ? What, but God ? 
Inspiring God 1 who boundless Spirit all, 



An 



SPRING. 63 



nd unremitting Energy, pervades, 
Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. 
He ceaseless works alone : and yet alone 
Seems not to work ; with such perfection fram'd 
Is this complex stupendous scheme of things. 
But, tho* conceal'd, to every purer eye 
Th' informing Author in his works appears : 
Chief, lovely Spring, in thee, and thy soft scenes, 
The Smiling God is seen ; while water, earth, 
And air attest his bounty ; which exalts 
The brute creation to this finer thought, 
And annual melts their undesigning hearts 
Profusely thus in tenderness and joy. 

Still let my song a nobler note assume, 
And sing th' infusive force of Spring on Man ; 
When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie 
To raise his being, and serene his soul. 
Can he forbear to join the general smile 
Of Nature ? Can fierce passions vex his breast, 
While every gale is peace, and every grove 
Is melody ? Hence from the bounteous walks 
Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons of earth, 
Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe ; 
Or only lavish to yourselves; away i 
But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide 

thought, 
Of all his works, creative bounty burns 
With warmest beam ; and on your open front 
And liberal eye, sits, from his dark retreat 
Inviting modest Want. Nor, till invok'd, 
Can restless goodness wait ; your active search 



64 SPRING. 

Leaves no cold wint'ry corner unexplor'd ; 

Like silent-working Heaven, surprising oft 

The lonely heart with unexpected good. 

For you the roving spirit of the wind 

Blows Spring abroad ; for you the teeming clouds 

Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world ; 

And the sun sheds his kindest rays for you 

Ye flower of human race ! In these green days, 

Reviving^ Sickness lifts her languid head ; 

Life flows afresh ; and young-ey'd Health exalts 

The whole creation round. Contentment walks 

The sunny glade, and feels an inward bliss 

Spring o'er his mind beyond the power of kin 

To purchase. Pure serenity apace 

Induces thought, and contemplation still. 

By swift degrees the love of Nature works, 

And warms the bosom ; till at last sublim'd 

To rapture, and enthusiastic heat, 

We feel the present Deity, and taste 

The joy of God to see a happy world ! 

These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, 
Thy heart informal by Reason's purer ray, 
O Lyttleton, the friend ! thy passions thus 
And meditations vary, as at large, 
Courting the Muse through Hagley Park thou 

strayest ; 
Thy Ertiuh Temfie ! There a'ong the dale, 
With woods o'er-hung, and shagg'd with mos 

rocks, 
Whence on each hand the gushing waters play, 
And down the rough cascade white -dashing fall, 



u 
sy 



SPRING, 65 

Or gleam in lengthened vista thro 5 the trees, 

You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade 

Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts, 

Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless hand, 

And pensive listen to the various voice 

Of rural peace : the herds, the flocks, the birds, 

The hollow-whispering breeze, the plaint of rills, 

That, purling- down amidst the twisted roots 

Which creep around, their dewy murmurs shake 

On the sooth'd ear. From these abstracted oft, 

You wander thro' the philosophic world ; 

Where in bright train continual wonders rise, 

Or to the curious or the pious eye. 

And oft conducted by historic truth, 

You tread the long extent of backward time : 

Planning, with warm benevolence of mind, 

And honest zeal unwarp'd by party-rage, 

Britannia's weal ; how from the venal gulph 

To raise her virtue, and her arts revive. 

Or, turning thence thy view, these graver thoughts 

The Muses charm : while, with sure taste refin'd, 

You draw th* inspiring breath of ancient song ; 

Till nobly rises, emulous, thy own. 

Perhaps thy lov'd Lucinda shares thy walk, 

With soul to thine attun'd. Then Nature all 

Wears to the lover's eye a look of love ; 

And all the tumult of a guilty world, 

Toss'd by ungenerous passions, sinks away. 

The tender heart is animated peace ; 

And as it pours its copious treasures forth, 

In varied converse, soft'ning every theme, 

f 2 



6 6- SPRING. 

Y©u frequent pausing, tuns, and from her eyes, 

Where meekened sense, and amiable grace. 

And lively sweetness dwell, enraptur'd drink 

That nameless spirit of ethereal joy, 

Unutterable happiness ! which love, 

Alone, bestows, and on a favour'd few. 

Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow 

The bursting prospect spreads immense around : 

And snatch'd o'er hill and dale, and wood and lawn, 

And verdant field, and darkening heath between, 

And villages imbosom'd soft in trees, 

And spiry towns by surging columns raark'd 

Of household smoak, your eye excursive roams : 

Wide stretching from the Hall, in whose kind haunt 

The Hospitable Genius lingers still, 

To where the broken landscape^ by degrees, 

Ascending, roughens into rigid hills ; 

O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds 

That skirt the blue horizon, dusky rise. 

Flush'd by the spirit of the genial year, 
Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom 
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round ; 
Her lips blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of youth* 
The shining moisture swells into her eyes, 
In brighter How : her wishing bosom heaves, 
With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize 
Her veins^ and aU her yielding soul is love. 
From the keen gaze her lover turns away, 
Full of the dear extatic power, and sick 
With -sighing languishment. Ah then, ye fair! 
fk g?£a% cautious of your sliding dhearts* 



SPRING. 67 

Dare not th' infectious sigh ! the pleading look, 
Downcast, and low, in meek submission drest, 
But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue, 
Gain on your purposed will. Nor in the bower, 
Prompt to deceive, with adulation smooth, 
Where woodbines flaunt, and roses shed a couch, 
While Evening draws her crimson curtains round, 
Trust your soft minutes with betraying Man. 

And let th' aspiring youth beware of love, 
Of the smooth glance beware ; for 'tis too late, 
When on his heart the torrent softness pours ; 
Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame 
Dissolves in air away, while the fond soul, 
Wrapt in gay visions of unreal bliss, 
Still paints th' illusive form— the kindling grace ; 
Th' inticing smile — >tlie modest seeming eye, 
Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying heaven* 
Lurk searchless cunning, cruelty and death ; 
And still false-warbling in his cheated ear, 
Her syren voice, enchanting, draws him on 
To guileful shores, and meads of fatal joy. 

Even present in the rery lap of love 
Inglorious laid, while music flows around, 
Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton hours ; 
Amid the roses fierce Repentance rears 
Her snaky crest, a quick returning pang 
Shoots thro' the conscious heart, where honour still* 
And great design, against the oppressive load 
Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 

But absent, what fantastic woes, arous'd 
Ra^e in each thought, by restless musing fed. 



68 SPRING. 

Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of life ? 
Neglected fortune flies ; and sliding swift, 
Prone into ruin, fall his scorn'd affairs. 
9 Tis nought but gloom around : The darken'd sun 
Loses his light. The rosy-bosom'd Spring 
To weeping Fancy pines ; and yon bright arch, 
Contracted, bends into a dusky vault. 
All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone 
Heard, felt and seen, possesses every^thought, 
Fills every sense, and pants in every vein. 
Books are but formal dullness, tedious friends ; 
And sad amid the social band he sits, 
Lonely and unattentive. From his tongue 
Th 5 unfinish'd period falls ; while borne away 
On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies 
To the vain bosom of his distant fair ; 
And leaves the semblance of a lover, fix'd 
In melancholy site, with head deelin'd 
And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts, 
Shook from his tender trance, and restless runs 
To glimmering shades, and sympathetic glooms ; 
Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling stream, 
Romantic hangs ; there through the pensive dusk, 
Strays in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 
Indulging all to love : or on the bank 
Thrown amid drooping lilies, swells the ^breeze 
With sighs unceasing, and the brook with tears, 
Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 
Nor quits his deep retirement, till the Moon 
Peeps thro' the chambers of the fleecy east, 
Enlightening by degrees, and in her train 




SPRING. 69 

Leads on the gentle hours ; then forth he walks, 

Beneath the trembling languish of her beam, 

With soften'd soul, and wooes the bird of eve 

To mingle woes with his ; or, while the world 

And all the sons of Care lie hush'd in sleep, 

Associates with the midnight shadows drear ; 

And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours 

His idly torturM heart into the page, 

Meant for the moving messenger of love : 

Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 

With rising frenzy fir'd. But if on bed 

Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies, 

All night he tosses, nor the balmy power 

In any posture finds ; till the grey morn 

Lifts her pale lustre on the paler wretch, 

Exanimate by love : and then perhaps 

Exhausted nature sinks a while to rest, 

Still interrupted by distracted dreams, 

That o'er the sick imagination rise, 

And in black colours paint the mimic scene. 

Oft with the enchantress of his soul he talks ; 

Sometimes in crouds distress'd ; or if retir'd 

To secret winding flower enwoven bowers, 

Far from the dull impertinence of Man, 

Just as he, credulous, his endless cares 

Begins to lose in blind oblivious love, 

Snatch'd from her yielded hand, he knows not how, 

Thro' forests huge, and long untravel'd heaths, 

With desolation brown, he wanders waste 

In night and tempest wrapt ; or shrinks aghast, 

Back from the bending precipice ; or wades 



70 SPRING. 

The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 
The farther shore ; where succourless and sad, 
She with extended arms his aid implores ; 
But strives in vain : borne by th' outrageous flood 
To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave, 
Or whelm'd beneath the boiling eddy sinks. 
These are the charming agonies of love, 
Whose misery delights. But thro' the heart 
Should jealousy its venom once diffuse, 
'Tis then delightful misery no more, 
But agony unmix'd, incessant gall, 
Corroding every thought, and blasting all 
Love's paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then, 
Ye beds of roses and ye bowers of joy, 
Farewell ! Ye gleamings of departed peace, 
Shine out your last I the yellow-tinging plague 
Internal vision taints, and in a night 
Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
Ah then ! instead of love-enlivening cheeks, 
Of sunny features, and of ardent eyes 
With flowing rapture bright, dark looks succeed, 
Suflfus'd and glaring with untender fire ; 
A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek, 
Where the whole poison'd soul, malignant sits 
And frightens love away. Ten thousand fears 
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms 
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up 
With fervent anguish, and consuming rage. 
In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 
Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 



SPRING. 71 

Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours, 

Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought, 

Her first endearments twining round the soul, 

With all the witchcraft of insnaring love. 

Straight the fierce storm involves his mind anew, 

Flames thro' the nerves, and boils along the veins ; 

While anxious doubt distracts the tortur'd heart : 

For even the sad assurance of his fears 

Were ease to what he feels. Thus the warm youth, 

Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 

Thro' flowery tempting paths, or leads a life 

Of fever'd rapture, or of cruel care ; 

His brightest aims extinguish'a all, and all 

His lively moments running down to waste. 

But happy they ! the happiest of their kind ! 
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 
'Tis not the coarser tie of human laws, 
Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, 
That binds their peace, but harmony itself 
Attuning all their passions into love \ 
Where friendship full exerts her softest power, 
Perfect esteem enlivened by desire 
Ineffable, and sympathy of soul ; 
Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will, 
With boundless confidence \ for nought but love 
Can answer love, and render bliss secure. 
Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent 
To bless himself, from sordid parents buys 
The loathing virgin, in eternal care, 
Well merited, consume his nights and days ; 



72 SPRING. 

Let barbarous nations, whose inhuman lov« 
Is wild desire, fierce, as the suns they feel : 
Let eastern tyrants, from the light of Heaven 
Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 
Of a mere, lifeless, violate^ farm ; 
While those whom love cements in holy faith, 
And equal transport, free as nature live, 
Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, 
Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all I 
Who in each other clasp whatever fair 
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish ; 
Something than beauty dearer, should they look 
Or oh the mind, or mind illumined face ; 
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony and love, 
The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
Meantime a smiling offspring rises round, 
And mingles both their graces. By degrees, 
The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
Soft as it rolls along, shews some new charm, 
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. 
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls 
For die "kind hand of an assiduous care. 
Delightful task 1 to rear the tender thought, 
To teach the young idea how to shoot, 
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 
To breathe th' enlivening: spirit, and to fix 
The generous purpose in the glowing breast. 
Oh speak the joy ! ye, whom the sudden tear 
Surprises often, while you look around, 
And nothing strikes your eye but sights of bliss, 
All various Nature pressing on the heart ; 




SPRING. 73 

An elegant sufficiency, content, 
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
Ease and alternate labour, useful life, 
Progressive virtue, and approving heaven. 
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love \ 
And thus their moments fly. The seasons thu« 
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll, 
Still find them happy : and consenting Spring 
Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads : 
Till evening comes at last serene and mild ; 
When after the long vernal day of life, 
Enamour'd more, as more remembrance swells 
With many a proof of recollected love, 
Together down they sink in social sleep ; 
Together freed their gentle spirits fly 
To scenes where love and bliss immortal reign. 



SUMMER- 




THE ARGUMENT. 

The subject proposed.. ^Invocation. ...Address to Mr. 
Dodington....An introductory reflection on the motion 
of the heavenly bodies ; whence the succession of the 
seasons. ...As the face of Nature in this season is al- 
most uniform, the progress of the poem is a descrip- 
tion of a summers day. ...The dawn..„Sun»rising.... 
Hymn to the sun.... Forenoon.... Summer insects des- 
cribed. . . .Hay -making. . . . Sheep-shearing. . . .J\ r oon-daij.\ . . , 
A woodland retreat.... Group of herds and flocks..., A 
solemn grove : how it affects a contemplative mind.... 
A cataract, and rude scene. ...View of Summer in 
the torrid zo?ie... .Storm of thunder and lightning... .A 
tale. ...The storm over^ a serene afternoon.... Bath- 
ing.... Hour of walking.... Transition to the prospect of 
a rich well cultivated country ; which introduces a 
pan egy vie on Great -Britain .... Sunset.. . . Evening. . . . 
A'ight.... Summer meteors. ...A comrt. ...The whole con- 
cluding with the praise of philosophy . 




SUMMER. 



FROM brightening fields of ether fair disclos'd. 
Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes, 
In pride of youth, and felt thro' Nature's depth : 
He comes attended by the sultry hours, 
And ever-fanning breezes, on his way ; 
While from his ardent look, the turning Spring 
Averts her blushful face ; and earth, and skies, 
All smiling, to his hot dominion leaves. 

Hence let me haste into the mid-wood shade, 
Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro' the gloom ; 
And on the dark green-grass, beside the brink 
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak 
Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large, 
And sing the glories of the circling year. 

Come, Inspiration ! from thy hermit seat, 
By Mortal seldom found : may Fancy dare, 
From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance 
Shot on surrounding heaven, to steal one look 
Creative of the poet, every power 
Exalting to an ecstasy of soul. 

And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend, 
In whom the human graces all unite ; 
Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart j 

g 2 




f8 SUMMER. 

Genius and wisdom ; the gay social sense, 
By decency chastis'd ; goodness and wit, 
In seldom-meeting harmony combin'd ; 
Unblemish'd honor, and an active zeal 
For Britain's glory, Liberty and Man : 
O Dodington ! attend my rural song, 
Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line, 
And teach me to deserve thy just applause. 

With What an awful world revolving power 
Where first the unwieldy planets iaunch'd along 
Th' illimitable void I Thus to remain, 
Amid the flux of many thousand years, 
That oft has swept the toiling race of men, 
And all their labour'd monuments away, 
Firm, unremitting, matchless in their course ; 
To the kind-temper'd change of night and day, 
And of the seasons ever stealing round, 
Minutely faithful : Such th 5 ail perfect hand ! 
That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole. 

When now no more th' alternate Twins are fi 
And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, 
Short is the doubtful empire of the night ; 
And soon, observant of approaching day, 
The meek-ey'd Morn appears, Mother of dews, 
At first faint gleaming in the dappled east : 
Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow ; 
And, from before the lustre of her face, 
White break the clouds away. With quickened step, 
Brown night retires : Young Day pours in apace, 
And opens all the lawny prospect wide. 
The dripping rock, the mountains misty top 







SUMMER. 79 



" 



Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn. 
Blue, thro 5 the dusk, the smoaking currents shine ; 
And from the bladed field the fearful hare 
Limps, aukward : while along the forest glade 
The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze 
At early passenger. Music awakes 
The native voice of undissembied joy ; 
And thick around the woodland hymns arise. 
RousM by. the cock, the sccn-clad shepherd leaves 
His mossy cottage, where with Peace he dwells ; 
And from the crouded fold, in order, drives 
His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. 

Falsely luxurious, will not man awake ; 
And springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy 
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, 
To meditation due and sacred song ? 
For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise ? 
To lie in dead oblivion, losing half 
The fleeting moments of too short a life ; 
Total extinction of th' enlightened soul 1 
Or else to feverish vanity alive, 
Wildered and tossing through distempered dreams ! 
Who would in such a gloomy state remain 
Longer than Nature craves ; when every Muse 
And every blooming pleasure w T ait without, 
To bless the wildly-devious morning walk ? 

But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, 
Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud, 
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
Illum'd with fluid gold, hj.s near approach 
Betoken glad. Lo ! now, apparent ail, 



80 



SUMMER. 




Aslant the dew bright earth, and coloured air, 

He looks in boundless majesty abroad ; 

And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays 

On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wandering streams, 

High gleaming from afar. Prime chearer Light ! 

Of all material beings first, and best ! 

Efflux divine 1 Nature's resplendent robe ! 

Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt 

In unessential gloom ; and thou, O Sun ! 

Soul of surrounding worlds ! in whom best seen 

Shines out thy Maker ! may I sing of thee ? 

'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, 
As with a chain indissoluble bound, 
Thy system roils entire ; from the far bourne 
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round 
Of thirty years ; to Mercury, whose disk 
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye, 
Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze. 

Informer of the planetary train ! 
Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbs 
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, 
And not, as now the green abodes of life I 
How many forms of being wait on thee ! 
Inhaling spirit ; from the unfettered mind, 
By thee sublim'd, down to the daily race, 
The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. 

The vegetable world is also thine, 
Parent of Seasons ! who the pomp precede 
That waits thy throne, as thro' thy vast domain, 
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road, 
In world rejoicing state, it moves sublime. 



SUMMER. 81 

Meantime, th 3 expecting nations, circled gay 
With all the various tribes of foodful earth, 
Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up 
A common hymn : while, round thy beaming car, 
High seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance 
Harmonious knit, the rosy finger'd Hours, 
The Zephyrs floating loose, the timely Rains, 
Of bloom ethereal the light-footed Dews 
And softened into joy the surly Storms. 
These in successive turn, with lavish hand, 
Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower, 
Herbs, flowers, and fruits ; till, kindling at thy 

touch, 
From land to land is fiush'd the vernal year. 

Nor to the surface of enlivened earth, 
Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods, 
Her liberal tresses, is thy force confin'd : 
But to the bowel'd cavern darting deep, 
The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power. 
Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines ; 
Hence labour draws his tools : hence burnish'd War 
Gleams on the clay ; the nobler works of Peace 
Hence bless mankind, and generous Commerce binds 
The round of nations in a golden chain. 

The unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee. 
In dark retirement forms the lucid stone. 
The lively Diamond drinks thy purest rays, 
Collected light, compact : that polisli'd bright, 
And all its native lustre let abroad, 
Dares, as it sparkles en the fair one's breast, 
With vain ambition emulate her eves. 



82 SUMMER. 

At thee the Ruby lights its deepening glow. 

And with a waving radiance inward flames. 

From thee the Sapphire, solid ether, takes 

Its hue cerulean ; and of evening tinct, 

The purple-streaming Amethyst is thine. 

With thy own smile the yellow Topaz burns 

Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, 

When first she gives it to the southern gale, 

Than the green Emerald shows. But, all combined 

Thick thro' the whitening Opal play thy beams ; 

Or, flying several from its surface, form 

A trembling variance of revolving hues 

As the site varies in the gazer's hand. 

The very dead creation, from thy touch, 
Assumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd* 
In brighter mazes the relucent stream 
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt, 
Projecting horror on the blackened flood, 
Softens at thy return. The desart joys 
Wildly, thro' all his melancholy bounds, 
Rude ruins glitter : and the briny deep, 
Seen from some pointed promontory's top, 
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge, 
Restless, reflects a floating gleam. But this, 
And all the much transported Muse can sing, 
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use, 
Unequal far ; great delegated source 
Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below! 

How shall I then attempt to sing of Him ! 
Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light 
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd 



SUMMER. S3 

From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken ; 
Whose single smile has from the first of time, 
Fill'd overflowing, all those lamps of Heaven, 
That beam for ever thro' the boundless sky : 
But should he hide his face, th' astonished sun, 
And all the extinguish'd stars, would loosening reel 
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again. 

And yet was every faultering tongue of Man, 
Almighty Father ! silent in thy praise ; 
Thy works themselves would raise a general voice, 
Even in the depth of solitary woods 
By human foot untrod ; proclaim thy power, 
And to the quire celestial Thee resound, 
Th' eternal cause, support, and end of all ! 

To me by Nature's volume broad display 'd ; 
And to peruse its all-instructing page, 
Or haply catching inspiration thence, 
Some easy passage, raptur'd, to translate, 
My sole delight ; as thro' the falling glooms 
Pensive I stray, or with the rising dawn 
On Fancy's eagle wing excursive soar. 

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun 
Melts into limpid air the high rais'd clouds, 
And morning fogs, that hover'd round the hills 
In party- colour'd bands ; till wide unveilM 
The face of Nature shines, from where earth seems, 
Far stretch'd around, to meet the bending sphere. 

Half in a blush of clustering roses lost, 
Dew dropping Coolness to the shade retires ; 
There on the verdant turf, or flowery bed, 
By gelid founts and careless rills to muse ; 



S4 . SUMMER. 

While tyrant Heat, dispreading thro' the sky, 
With rapid sway, his burning influence darts 
On man, and beast, and herb, and tepid stream. 

Who can unpitying see the flowery race, 
Shed by the morn, their new flush'd bloom resign, 
Before the parching beam ? So fade the fair, 
When fevers revel thro' their azure veins 
But one, the lofty follower of the sun, 
Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, 
Drooping all night ; and, when he warm returns, 
Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray. 

Home, from his morning task, the swain retreats ; 
His flock before him stepping to the fold : 
While the full udder'd mother lows around 
The chearful cottage, then expecting food, 
The food of innocence, and health ! The daw, 
The rook and magpie, to the grey grown oaks 
That the calm village in their verdant arms, 
Sheltering, embrace, direct their lazy flight ; 
Where on the mingling boughs they sit embow* 
All the hot noon, till cooler hours arise. 
Faint underneath, the houshold fowls convene ; 
And in a corner of the buzzing shade, 
The house-dog, with the vacant greyhound lies, 
Out-stretch'd, and sleepy. In his slumbers, one 
Atta cks the nightly thief, and one exults 
O'er hill and dale; till, waken'd by the wasp, 
They starting snap. Nor shall the Muse disdaia 
To let the little noisy summer-race 
Live in^her lay, and flutter thro' her song : 
Not mean, tho' simple, to the sun ally'd, 
From him they draw their animating fire. 







SUMMER. 85 

Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young 
Come wing'd abroad ; by the light air upborn, 
Lighter, and full of soul. From every chink, 
And secret corner, where they slept away 
The wint'ry storms : or rising from their tombs, 
To higher life ; by myriads, forth at once, 
Swarming they pour ; of all the vary'd hues 
Their beauty beaming parent can disclose. 
Ten thousand forms ! ten thousand different tribes ! 
People the blaze. To sunny waters some 
By fatal instinct fly ; where on the pool 
They, sportive wheel ; or, sailing down the stream, 
Are snatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd trout 
Or darting salmon. Through the green-wood glade 
Some love to stray ; there lodg'd^ amus'd and fed, 
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make 
The meads their choice, and visit every flower, 
And every latent herb : for the sweet tasl^, 
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap, 
In what soft beds, their young yet undisclos'd, 
Employs their tender care. Some to the house, 
The fold, and dairy, hungry, bend their flight ; 
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese : 
Oft, inadvertent, from the milky stream 
They meet their fate ; or weltering in the bowl, 
With powerless wkigs around them wrapt, expire. 

But chief to heedless flies the window proves, 
A constant death ; where gloomily retir'd, 
The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce, 
Mixture abkorr'd ! Amid a mangled heap 
Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits> 



86 SUMMER. 

O'er looking all his waving snares around. 

Near the dire cell the dreadless wanderer oft 

Passes, as oft the ruffian shows his front : 

The prey at last ensnar'd, he dreadful darts, 

With rapid glide, along the leaning line ; 

And, "fixing in the wretch his cruel fangs, 

Strikes backward grimly pleas'd : the fluttering wing,. 

And shriller sound declare extreme distress, 

And ask the helping hospitable hand. 

Resounds the living surface of the ground : 
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum, 
To him who muses thro 5 the woods at noon ; 
Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined, 
With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade 
Of willows grey, close crouding o'er the brook. 

Gradual, from these what numerous kinds descer 
Evading even the microscopic eye ! 
Full nature swarms with life ; one wond'rous mass 
Of animals or atoms organized, 
Waiting the vital breath, when parent heaven 
Shall bid his spirit blow. The hoary fen, 
In putrid steams, emits the living cloud 
Of pestilence. Thro' subterraneous cells, 
Where searching sun-beams scarce can find a way, 
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf 
Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure, 
Within its winding ci "ad el, the stone 
Holds multitudes. Lai chief the forest boughs, 
That dance unnumber'd to the playful breeze, 
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed 




SUMMER. S7 

Of evanescent insects. Where the pool 

Stands mantled o'er with green, invisible, 

Amid the floating verdure millions stray, 

Each liquid too, whether it pierces, soothes, 

Inflames, refreshes, or exalts the taste, 

With various forms abounds. Nor is the stream 

Qf purest crystal, nor the lucid air, 

Tho' one transparent vacancy it seems, 

Void of their unsfeen people. These, conccal'd 

By the kind art of forming heaven, escape 

The grosser eye of man : for, if the worlds 

In worlds inclos'd, should on his senses burst, 

From cates ambrosial, and the nectar'd bowl* 

He would abhorrent turn ; and in dead night 

When silence sleeps o'er all, be stunn'd with noise. 

Let no presuming impious railer tax 
Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd 
In vain, or not for admirable ends. 
Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce 
His works unwise, of which the smallest part 
"Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ? 
As if upon a full-proportion'd dome, 
On swelling columns heav'd the pride of art ! 
A critic-.fi y, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 
An inch around, with blind presumption bold, 
Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 
And lives the man, whose universal eye 
Has swept at once th' unbounded scheme of things ; 
Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 
As with unfaultering accent to conclude 
That this availeth nought ? Has any seen 



83 SUMMER. 

The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 
From infinite perfection to the brink 
Of dreary Nothing, desolate abyss I 
From which astonish'd thought, recoiling, turns ? 
Till then alone let zealous praise ascend, 
And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power, 
Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds, 
As on our smiling eyes his servant sun. 

Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways, 
Upward and downward, thwarting, and convolv'd 
The quivering nations sport ; till, tempest-wing'd. 
Fierce winter sweeps them from the face of day. 
Even so luxurious men, unheeding, pass 
An idle summer-life in fortune's shine* 
A season's glitter ! Thus they flutter on 
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice ; 
Till blown away by death, oblivion comes 
Behind, and strikes them from the book of life. 

Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead : 
The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil, 
Healthful and strong ; full as the summer rose 
Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, 
Half naked, swelling on the sight, and all 
Fler kindled graces burning o'er her cheek. 
Even stooping age is here ; and infant-hands 
Trail the long rake, or, with the fragrant load 
O'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppression roll. 
Wide flies the tedded grain ; all in a row 
Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field, 
They spread the breathing harvest to the sun ? 
That throws refreshful round a rural smell .: 



r^ 




Ov. au! 



SUMMER. 89 



On, as they rake the gfeen-appearing ground, 
And drive the dusky wave along the mead, 
The russet hay-cock rises thick behind, 
In order gay. While heard from dale to dale, 
Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voice. 
Of happy labour, love, and social glee, 

Or rushing thence, in one diffusive band, 
They drive the troubled flocks, by many a dog 
Compelled, to where the mazy -running brook 
Forms a deep pool: this bank abrupt and high, 
And that fair spreading in a pebbled shose. 
Urg'd to, the giddy brink, much is the toil, 
The clamour much of men, and boys, and dogs. 
Ere the soft fearful people to the flood ' 
Commit their wooiy sides. And oft the swain, 
On some impatient seizing, hurls them in : 
Emholden'd then, nor hesitating more, 
Fast, fast they plunge amid the flashing wave, 
And panting labour to the farthest shore. 
Repeated this, till deep the - well-wash 'd fleece 
Has drunk the flood, and from his lively haunt 
The trout is banish'd by the sordid stream \ 
Heavy, and dripping, to the breezy brow 
Slow move the harmless race ; where, as they snread 
Their swelling treasures to the sunny ray. 
Inly disturbed, and wondering what this wild 
Outrageous tumult means, their loud complaints 
The country fill ; and toss'd from rock to rock, 
Incessant bleatlngs run around the hills. 
At last, of snowy white, the gather'd Hocks 
Are in the wattled pen iiinum-otpus press'd, 

H 2 




•m SUMMER. 

Head above head ; and, rang'd in lusty rows, 
The shepherds sit, and whet the sounding shears* 
The housewife waits to roll her fleecy stores, 
With all her gay drest maids attending round* 
One, chief, in gracious dignity enthron'd, 
Shines o'er the rest, the pastoral queen, and rays 
Her smiles, sweet-beaming on her shepherd king.; 
While the glad circle round them yield their souls 
To festive mirth, and wit that knows no gall. 
Meantime their joyous task goes on apace : 
Some mingling, stir the melted tar, and some 
Deep on the new shorn vagrant's heaving side, 
To stamp the master's cypher ready stand : 
Others the unwilling wether drag along : 
And glorying in his might, the sturdy boy 
Holds by the twisted horns th' indignant ram. 
Behold where bound, and of its robe bereft, 
By needy man, that all-depending lord, 
How meek, how patient, the mild creature lies I 
What softness in its melancholy face, 
What dumb complaining innocence appears ! 
Fear not, ye gentle tribes, 'tis not the knife 
Of horrid slaughter that is o'er you wav'd ; 
No, 'tis the tender swain's well guided shears. 
Who having now, to pay his annual care, 
Borrowed your fleece, to you a cumbrous load^ 
Will send you bounding to your hills again. 
A simple scene ! Yet hence Britannia sees 
Her solid grandeur rise : hence she commands 
f h' exalted stores of every brighter clime, 
The treasures of the sun, without his rage; 



SUMMER- f$ 

Hence fervent all, with culture, toil, and arts, 
Wide glows her land : her dreadful thunder hence 
Rides o'er the waves sublime, and now, even now, 
Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast ; 
Hence rules the circling deep, and awes the worlcfc 

'Tis raging Noon .; and vertical, the Sun. 
Darts on th© head direct his forceful rays. 
O'er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye 
Can sweep, a dazzling deluge reigns ; and all 
From pole to pole is undistinguish'd blaze. 
In vain the sight, dejected to the ground, 
Stoops for relief ; thence hot ascending steams 
Ad keen reflection pain. Deep to the root 
Of vegetation s parchM, the cleaving fields. 
And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose, 
Blast fancy's bloom, and wither even the souL, 
Echo no more returns the cheerful sound ^ 
Of sharpening scythe : the mower sinking heaps 
O'er him the humid hay, with flowers perfum'd ; 
And scarce a chirping grass-hopper is heard 
Thro' the dumb mead. Distressful Nature pants, 
The very streams look languid ffrom afar ; 
Or thro' th' unshelter'd glade, impatient, seem. 
To hurl into the covert of the grove. 

All-conquering heat, oh intermit thy wrath ! 
And on my throbbing temples potent thus 
Beam not so fierce ! Incessant still you flow, 
And still another fervent flood succeeds, 
Pour'd on the head profuse. In vain I sigh, 
And restless turn and look around for night y 
><ight is far oif, and hotter hours approach, 



m SUMMER. 

Thrice happy he ! -who on the sunless side 
Of a romantic mountain, forest crcwn'd, 
Beneath the whole collected shade reclines : 
Or in the gelid caverns, woodbine wrought, 
And fresh bcdew'd with ever spouting creams, 
Sits coolly calm ; while all the world without, 
Unsatisfied, and sick, tosses in noon. 
Emblem instructive of the virtuous Man, 
Who keeps his temper'd nvvA serene* and pure, 
And ever;' passion aptly harm6niz 5 <Ej 
Amid a jar rip g world with vice eflflam'd. 

Welcome, ye shades ! ye bowery thickets .hi.il ? 
Ye lefty pines ! ye venerable oaks ! 
Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep L 
Delicious is your shelter to the soul, 
As to the hunted hart the sallying spring, 
Or stream full flowing, that his swelling side 
Laves, as he floats along the herbag'd brink. 
Cool, thro 9 the nerves, your pleasing comfort glides ; 
The heart beats glad ; the fresh expanded eye 
And ear resume their tvatch ; the sinews knit ; 
And life shoots swift thro' all the lightened limbs; 

Around th'' adjoining brook, that purls along 
The vocal grove, now fretting o'er a rock, 
Now scarcely moving thro' a reedy pool, 
Now starting to a sudden stream, and now 
Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain : 
A various groupe the herds and flocks compose* 
Rural confusion ! On the grassy bank 
Some ruminating lie ; while others stand 
Half in the flood, and often bending sip 




SUMMER. fj 

The circling surface. In the middle droops 
The strong laborious ox, of honest front, 
Which incompos'd he shakes ; and from his sides 
The troublous insects lashes with his tail, 
Returning stilL Amid his subjects safe, 
Slumbers the monarch-swain, his careless arm : 
Thrown round his head, on downy moss sustain'*!, 
Here laid his scrip, with wholesome viands fili'd j; 
There, listening every noise, his watchful dog. 

Light fly his slumbers, if perchance a flight 
Of angry gad-ittes fasten on the herd ; 
That startling scatters from the shallow brook 
In search of lavish stream. Tossing the foam, 
They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plaiiv 
Thro' all the bright severity of noon ; 
While, from their labouring breasts, a hollow moaa 
Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills. 

Oft in this season too the horse, provok'dj. 
While his big sinews full of spirits swell,. 
Trembling with vigour, in the heat of blood, 
Springs the high fence ; and, o'er the field effus'd, 
Darts on the gloomy flood, with stedfast eye, 
And heart estrang'd to fear : his nervous chest,, 
.Luxuriant, and erect, the seat of strength ! 
Bears down the opposing stream : quenchless his 

thirst : 
Lie takes the river at redoubled draughts ; 
And with wide nostrils, snorting skims the wave. 

Still let me pierce into the midnight depth 
Of yonder grove, of wildest, largest growth; 
"That, forming high in air a woodland quire, 



-■04 SUMMER. 

Nods o'er the mount beneath. At every step, 
Solemn, and slow, the shadows blacker fall, 
And all is awful listening gloom around. 

These are the haunts of Meditation, these 
The scenes where ancient bards th' inspiring breath. 
Ecstatic, felt ; and from this world retir'd, 
Convers'd with angels, and immortal forms, 
On gracious errands bent ; to save the fall 
Of virtue struggling on the brink of vice ; 
In waking whispers, and repeated dreams, 
To hint pure thought, and warn the favoured soul 
For future trials fated to prepare ; 
To prompt the poet, who devoted gives 
His muse to better themes ; to soothe the pangs 
Of dying worth, and from the patriot's breast, 
(Backward to mingle in detested war, 
But foremost when engag'd) to turn the death ; 
And numberless such offices of love, 
Daily, and nightly, zealous to perform. 

Shook sudden from the bosom of the slqr, 
A thousand shapes or glide athwart the dusk, 
Or stalk majestic on. Deep-rous'd I feel 
A sacred terror, a severe delight, 
Creep through my mortal frame .; and thus, methinksv 
A voice, thaniiuman more, th' abstracted ear 
Of fancy strikes. " Be not of us afraid, 
" Poor kindred Man ! thy fellow-creatures, we 
" From the same Parent-power our beings drew, 
a The same our Lord, and laws, and great pursuit. 
^ Once some of us, like thee, thro' stormy life, 
" ToiFd, tempest -beaten, ere we could attain 




JMMER. gs 

w This holy calm, this harmony of mind, 
i4 Where purity and peace immingle charms, 
" Then fear not us ; but with responsive song-, 
u Amid tli- >e dim recesses, undisturb'd 
[•' " By no] and discordant vice, 

" Of nature sing with us, and Nature's God. 
" Here frequent, at the visionary hour, 
" When musing midnight reigns or silent noon, 
"Angelic harps are in full concert heard, 
j & And voices chanting from the wood-crown'd hill, 
{ « The deepening dale, or inmost sylvan glade : 
« A privilege bestow'd by us alone, 
" On contemplation, or the hallow'd ear 
" Of Poet, swelling to seraphic strain." 

And art thou, * Stanley, of that sacred band I 
Alas, for us too soon ! Tho' rais'd above 
The reach of human pain, above the flight 
Of human joy j yet with a mingled ray 
Of sadly pleas'd remembrance, must thou feel 
A mother's love, a mother's tender woe : 
Who seeks thee still, in many a former scene ; 
Seeks thy fair form, thy lovely beaming eyes, 
Thy pleasing converse, by gay lively sense 
Inspir'd : where moral -wisdom mildly shone, 
Without the toil of art ; and virtue glow'd 
In all her smiles, without forbidding pride. 
But, O thou best of parents ! wipe thy tears s 
Or rather to Parental Nature pay 

* A young lady, well known to the author, who died a-' 
the age of eighteen in the year 1TSS. 



9& » SUMMER. 

The tears of grateful joy, who for a while 
Lent thee this younger self, this opening bloom 
Of thy enlightened mind and gentle worth. 
Believe the Muse : the wint'ry blast of death 
Kills not the buds of virtue : no, they spread, 
Beneath the heavenly beam of 'lighter suns, 
Thrc' endless ages, into higher powers. 

Thus up the mount, in airy vision wrapt, 
I stray, regardless whither ; till the sound 
Of a near fail of water every sense 
Wakes from the charms of thought : swift shrinking j i 

back, 
I check my steps, and view the broken scene. 

Smooth to the shelving brink a copious flood 
Rolls fair and placid ; where collected all, 
In one impetuous torrent, down the steep 
It thundering shoots, and shakes the country roun.d. 
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad ; 
Then whitening by degrees, as prone it falls, 
And from the loud-resounding rocks below 
Dash'd in a cloud of foam, it sends aloft 
A hoary mist, and forms a ceaseless shower. 
Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repose : 
But, raging still amid the shaggy rocks, 
Now flashes o'er the scatter'd fragments, now 
Aslant the hollow channel rapid darts ; 
And falling fast from gradual slope to slope, 
With wild infracted course, and lessened roar* 
It gains a safer bed, and steals, at last, 
Along the mazes of the quiet rale. 




I* 



SUMMER. 97 



Invited from the cliff, to whose dark brow 
He clings, the steep-ascending eagle soars, 
With upward pinions thro' the flood of day; 
And giving full his bosom to the blaze, 
Gains on the sun ; while all the tuneful race, 
Smit by afflictive noon, disordered droop, 
Deep in the thicket ; or, from bower to bower 
Responsive, force an interrupted strain. 
The stock-dove only thro 5 the forest cooes, 
Mournfully hoarse ; oft ceasing from his plaint, 
Short interval of weary woe ! again 
The sad idea of his saaurder'd mate, 
Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile* 
Across his fancy comes ; and then resounds, 
A louder song of sorrow thro' the grove, 

Beside the dewy border let me sit, 
All in the freshness of the humid air; 
There in that hollowed rock, grotesque and wild. 
An ample chair, moss-lin'd, and over head, 
By flowering umbrage shaded ; "where the bee 
Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm 
Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh. 

Now, while I taste the sweetness of the shade. 
While Nature lies around deep-lulTd in Noon, 
Now come, bold Fancy, spread a daring flight ' 
And view the wonders of the torrid Zone : 
Climes unrelenting ! with whose rage compar'd, 
Yon blaze is feeble, and yon skies are cool. 

See, how at once the bright effulgent sun, 
Rising direct, swift chases from the sky, 
The short -liv'd twilight ; and with ardent bla^e 



98 ■: SUMMER. 

Looks gaily fierce o'er all the dazzling air : 

He mounts his throne ; but kind before him sends, 

Issuing from out the portals of the morn, 

The * general breeze to mitigate his fire, 

And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. 

Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd 

And barbarous wealth, that see, ^ach circling year, 

Returning sunsf and double seasons pass : 

Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines, 

That on the high equator ridgy rise. 

Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays : 

Majestic woods, of every vigorous green, 

Stage above stage, high waving o'er the hills,,; 

Or to the far horizon wide, diffus'd, 

A boundless deep immensity of shade. 

Here lofty trees, to ancient song unknown, 

The noble sons of potent heat and floods 

Prone-rushing from the clouds, rear high to Heaves* 

Their thorny stems, and broad around them throw 

Meridian gloom. Here, in eternal prime, 

Unnumber'd fruits, of keen delicious taste * 

And vital spirit, drink amid the cliffs, 

And burning sands that bank the shrubby vales^ 

* Which blows constantly between the tropics from the 
east, or the collateral points, the north-east. and south-east : 
caused by the pressure of the rarefied air on that before it, 
according to the diurnal motion of the sun from east to west. 

+ In all climates between the tropics, the sun, as he pas- 
se* and repasses in his annual motion, it twice a year verti- 
cal, which produces this effe&. 






SUMMER. S9 



Redoubled day, yet in their rugged coats 
A friendly juice to cool its rage contain. 

Bear me, Pomona ! to thy citron groves ; 
To where the lemon and the piercing lime, 
With the deep orange glowing thro' the green, 
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin'd 
Beneath the spreading tamarind that shakes, 
Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. 
Deep in the night the massy locust sheds, 
Quench my hot limbs : or lead me thro' the maze. 
Embowering endless, 4>f the Indian fig ; 
Gr thrown at gayer ease, on some fair brow, 
Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd, 
Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, 
And high palmetos lift their graceful shade. 
O stretch'd amid thjese orchards of the sun, 
Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl, 
And from the palm to draw its freshening wine i 
More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 
Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its slender twig* 
Low bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd ; 
Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race 
Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells 
Unboastfui worth, above fastidious pomp. 
Witness, thou best Anana, thou the pride 
Of vegetable life, beyond what e'er 
The poets imagin'd in the golden age : 
Quick let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, 
Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove J 

From these the prospect varies. Plains immense 
Lie strefceh'd below, interminable meajls, 



10H SUMMER. 

And vast savannahs where the wandering eye, 
Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean lost. 
Another Flora there, of bolder hues, 
And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride, 
Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand 
Exuberant spring : for oft these valleys shift 
Their green embrcider'cl robe to fiery brown, 
And swift to green again, as scorching sims 
Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail. 

Along these lonely regions, where retired, 
From little scenes of art, great- Nature dwells 
In awful solitude, and nought is seen 
But the wild herds, that own no master's stall, 
Prodigious rivers roll their fatt'ning seas : 
On whose luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd, 
Like a fallen cedar, far difFus'd his train, 
Cas'd in green scales, the crocodile extends. 
The flood disparts : behold ! in plaited mail, 
* Behemoth rear3 his head. Glanced from his side, 
The darted steel in idle shivers flies : 
He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills ; 
Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds, 
In widening circle round, forget their food, 
And at the harmless stranger wondering gaze. 

Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cast 
Their ample shade o'er Niger's yellow stream, 
And where the Ganges rolls his sacred wave y 
Os mid the central depth of blackening woods,.. 
High ruis'd in solemn theatre around, 

* The Hippopotamus, or river horse- 



. 



SUMMER. 101 



eans the huge elephant : wisest of brutes ! 
O truly wise ! with gentle might endow 'd 
Tho' powerful, not destructive ! Here he sees 
Revolving ages sweep the changeful earth, 
And empires rise and fall ; regardless he 
Of what the never-re sting race of Men 
Project ; thrice happy ! could he 'scape their guile, ; 
Who mine, from cruel avarice, his steps ; 
Or with his towery grandeur swell their state, 
The pride of kings ! or else his strength pervert : 
And bid him rage amid the mortal fray, , 
Astonish'd at the madness of mankind. ;, 

Wide o'er the. winding umbrage of the floods, 
Like vivid blossoms glowing from afar, 
Thick swarm the brighter birds. For Nature's haqd, 
That with a sportive vanity has deck'd 
The plumy nations,, there her gayest hues 
Profusely pours, . *But if she bids them shine, 
Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day, 
Yet frugal still, she humbles them in song. 
Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent 
Proud Montezuma's realm, whose legions cast 
A boundless radiance waving on the sun, 
While Philomel is ours ; while in our shades,. 
Thro' the soft silence of the listening night, 
The sober-suited songstress trills her lay. 

But come, my Muse, the desart barrier burst, 
A wild expanse of lifeless sand and sky : 

* In the regions of the torrid zone, the birds though mere 
beautiful in their plumage, are observed to be less metedious 
than ours* 

I 2 



102 SOMMEK. 

And, swifter tlian the toiling caravan, 
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar ; ardent climb 
The Nubian mountains, and the secret bounds 
Of jealous Abyssinia boldly pierce. 
Thou art no ruffian, who beneath the mask 
Of social commerce com'st to rob their wealth ; 
No Holy Fury thou, blaspheming Heaven, 
With consecrated steel to stab their peace, 
And thro* the land, yet red from civil wounds, 
To spread the purple tyranny of Rome. 
Thou, like the harmless bee, may'st freely range 
From mead to mead, bright with exalted flowers, 
From jasmine grove to grove, may'st wander gayy- 
Thro' palmy shades and aromatic woods, 
That grace the plains, invest the peopled hills, 
And up the more than Alpine mountains wave. 
There on the breezy summit, spreading fair, 
For many a league ; or on stupendous rocks, 
That from the sun-redoubling valley lift, 
Cool to the middle air, their lawny tops ; 
Where palaces, and fanes, and villas rise ; 
And gardens smile around, and cultur'd fields ; 
And fountains gush ; and careless herds and flocks 
Securely stray ; a world within itself, 
Disdaining all assault : there let me draw 
Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales, 
Profusely breathing from the spicy groves, 
And vales of fragrance ; there at distance hear 
The roaring floods, and cataracts, that sweep 
From disemboweled earth the virgin gold ;, 
And o'er the varied landscape, restless, rove, 




SUMMER. 103 

Fervent with life of every fairer kind : 
A land of wonders ! which the sun still eyes 
With ray direct, as of the lovely realm 
Enamcur'd, and delighting there to dwell. 

How chang'd the scene ! In blazing height of noon 
The sun, oppress'd, is plung'd in thickest gloom, 
Sttll Horror reigns, a dreary twilight round, 
Of struggling night and day malignant mix'd. 
Far to the hot equator crouding fasty 
Where, highly rarefi'd, the yielding air 
Admits their stream, incessant vapours roll, 
Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd ; 
Or whirl'd tempestuous by the gusty wind, 
Or silent borne along, heavy, and slow, 
With the big stores of steaming oceans chargVL 
Meantime, amid these upper seas condens'd 
Around the cold aerial mountain's brow, 
And by conflicting winds together dash'd, 
The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne ; 
From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings rage. 
Till, in the furious elemental war 
Dis3olv 3 d, the whole precipitated mass 
Unbroken floods and solid torrents pour. 

The treasures these, hid from the bounded search- 
Of ancient knowledge ; whence, with annual pomp, 
Rich king of floods ! overflows the swelling Nile.. 
From his two springs, in Gojam's sunny realms* 
Pure-welling out, he thro* the lucid lake 
Of fair Dambea rolls his infant stream. 
There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he sports away 
His playful youth, amid the fragrant isles* 



is* SUMMER, 

That with unfading verdure smile around. 
Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks ; 
And gathering many, a flood, and copious fed 
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky, 
Winds in progressive majesty along : 
Thro' splendid kingdoms now devolves his maze?- 
Now wanders wild o'er solitary tracts 
Qf life -deserted sand: till, glad to quit 
The joyless desart, down the Nubian rocks 
From thundering steep to steep, he pours his urpv 
And Egypt joys beneath the spreading wave. 

His brother Niger too, and all the floods , 
In which the full-form 9 d maids of Afric lave 
Their jetty limbs .„; «nd all that from the tract 
Of woody mountains stretched thro' gorgeous In< 
Fall on Cormandel's coast, or Malabar ; 
From *Menam's orient stream, that nightly shines 
With insect lamps, to where Aurora sheds 
On Indus' smiling banks the rosy shower : 
All, at this bounteous season, ope their urns, 
And pour untoiling harvest o 5 er the land, 

Nor less thy world, Columbus drinks, refresh*^ 
The lavish moisture of the melting year, 
Wide o'er his isles, the branching Oronoque 
Ralls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 
To dwell aloft on life-sufficing trees, 
At once his dome, his robe, his food and arms. 
Swell'd by a thousand streams, impetuous hmTd 

*The river that runs through Siam ; on whose banks a 
vast multitude of those inse&s called Pire flies make a beau- 
tiful appearance in the night. 



nt& 




SUMMER; w& 

From all the roaring Andes huge descends 
The mighty *Orellana. Scarce the Muse 
Dares stretch her wing o'er this enormous mass^ 
Of rushing water ; scarce she dares attempt 
The sea-like Plata, to whose dread expanse, 
Continuous depth, and wonderous length of course. 
Our floods- are rills. With unabated force, 
In silent dignity they sweep along, 
And traverse realms unknown, and blooming wilds 
And fruitful desarts, worlds of solitude, 
Where the sun smiles, and seasons teem in vain ? 
Unseen, and unenjoy'd. Forsaking these, 
O'er peopled plains they far-diffusive flow, 
And many a nation feed, and circle safe 5 
In their soft bosom, many a happy isle : 
The seat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd 
By christian crimes and Europe's cruel sons, 
Thus pouring on they proudly seek the deep, 
Whose vanquished tide, recoiling from the shocks 
Yields to this liquid weight of half the globe ; 
And Ocean trembles for his green domain : 

But what avails this wonderous waste of wealth ?.. 
This gay profusion of luxurious bliss ! ' „ - 
This pomp of Nature ? what their balmy meads, 
Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain ? 
By vagrant birds dispers'd and wafting winds, 
What their unplanted fruits ? what the cool draughty 
TV ambrosial food, rich gums, and spicy health, 
Their forests yield? Their toiling insects what^ 

* The river of the Amazons* 



m t SUMMER. 

Their silky pride and vegetable robes ! 
Ah ! what avail their fatal treasures, hid 
Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, 
Golconda's gems, and sad Potosi's mines ; 
Where dwelt the gentlest children of the sunt 
What all that Afrie's golden rivers roll,. 
Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores h 
Ill-fated race ! the softening arts of Peace, 
What e'er the humanizing Muses teach ; 
The godlike wisdom of the tempered breast ; 
Progressive truth, the patient force of thought ° 9 
Investigation calm, whose silent powers 
Command the world i the Light that leads to H#a* 

ven ; 
Kind equal rule, the government of laws, 
And all protecting Freedom, which alone , 
Sustains the name and dignity of Man ; 
These are not theirs. The parent-sun himself 
Seems o'er this world of slaves to tyrannize 
And, with oppressive ray, the roseat bloom 
Of beauty blasting, gives the gloomy hue, 
And feature gross : or worse, to ruthless deecte, . 
Mad jealousy, blind rage, and fell revenge, 
Their fervid spirit fires. Love dwells not there? 
The soft regarwJj the tenderness of life, 
The heart shed tear, th' ineffable delight 
Of sweet humanity : these court the beam 
Of milder climes ; in selfish fierce desire, 
And the wild fury of voluptuous sense, 
There lost. The very brute -creation there 
this rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire*; 




SUMMER. 107 

Lo ! the green serpent, from his dark abode, 
Which even Imagination fears to tread, 
At noon forth-issuing, gathers up his train 
In orbs immense, then, darting out anew, 
"Seeks the refreshing fount ; by which diffus'd, 
lie throws his folds ; and while, with threat'riing 

tongue, 
And deathful jaws erect, the monster curl* 
His flaming crest, all other thirst appall'd, 
Or shivering flies, or check'd at distance stands, 
;Nor dares approach. But still more direful he, 
The small close-lurking minister of fate, 
Whose high concocted venom thro' the veins 
A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift 
The vital current. Formed to humble Man 
This child of vengeful Nature ! There, sublim'd 
To fearless lust of blood, the savage race 
Hoam, licensed by the shading hour of guilt, 
And foul misdeed, when the pure day has shut 
His sacred eye. The tyger darting fierce 
Impetuous on the; prey his glance has doom'd: 
The lively-shining leopard, speckled o'er 
With many a spot, the beauty of the waste; 
And, scorning all the taming arts of Man, 
The keen hyena, fellest of the fell. 
These, rushing from th' inhospitable woods 
Of Mauritania, or the tufted isles, 
That verdant rise amid the Lybian wild, 
Innumerous glare around their shaggy king, 
Majestic stalking o'er the printed sand : 
And* with imperious and repeated roars, 



108 SUMMER. 

Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks 
Crowd near the guardian swain : the nobler herds* 
Where round their lordly bull? in rural ease 
They ruminating lie, with horror >hear 
The coming rage. Th* awakened village starts^ 
And to her fluttering breast the mother strains 
Her thoughtless infant. From the Pyrate's den 
Or stem Morocco's tyrant fang escap'd, 
The wretch half- wishes for his bonds again : 
While, uproar all, the wilderness resounds, 
From Atlas eastward to the frighted Nile. 

Unhappy he ! who from the first of joys. 
Society, cut off, is left alone 
Amid this world of death. Day after day, 
Sad on the jutting eminence he sits, 
And views the main that ever toils below ; 
Still fondly farming in the farthest verge, 
Where the round ether mixes with the wave, 
Ships, dim-diseover'd, dropping from the cloudf* 
At evening, to the setting sun he turns 
A mournful eye, and down his dying heart 
Sinks helpless j while the wonted roar is up, 
And hiss continual thro' the tedious night. 
Yet here, even here, into these black abodes 
Of monsters, unappall'd, from stooping Rome* 
And guilty Caesar, Liberty retir'd, 
Her Cato following thro 5 Numidian wilds : 
Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains, 
And all the green delights Ausonia pours ; 
When for them she must bend the servile knee. 
JVnd fawning take the splendid robber's boon. 




SUMMER. 109 

Nor stop the terrors of those regions here. 
Commission'd demons oft, angels of wrath, 
Let loose the raging elements. Breath'd hot, 
From all the boundless furnace of the sky, 
And the wide glittering waste of burning sand, 
A suffocating wind the pilgrim smites 
With instant death, Patient of thirst and toil, 
Son of the desert ! even the camel feels, 
Shot thro' his withered heart, the fiery blast. 
Or from the black-red ether, bursting broad, 
Sallies the sudden whirlwind. Strait the sands 
Commov'd around, in gathering eddies play ; 
Nearer and nearer still they darkening come ; 
Till, with the general all-involving storm 
Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arise : 
And by their noon-day fount dejected thrown, 
Or sunk zt night in sad disastrous sleep, 
Beneath descending hills, the caravan 
Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded streets 
Th' impatient merchant, wondering, waits in vain ? 
And Mecca saddens at the long delay. 

But chief at sea, whose every flexile wave 
Obeys the blast, the serial tumult swells. 
In the dread ocean, undulating wide, 
Beneath the radiant line that girts the globe, 
The circling *Typhon, whirl'd from point to point, 
Exhausting all the rage of all the sky, 
And dire *Ecnephia reign. Amid the heavens, 

* Typhon and Ecnephia, names of particular itorms or 
hurricanes, known only between the tropics. 

S. 



110 SUMMER. 

Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy *specl* 

Compress'd, the mighty tempest brooding dwells s 

Of no regard, save to the skilful eye, 

Fiery and foul, the small prognostic hangs 

Aloft, or on the promontory's brow 

Musters its force. A faint deceitful calm, 

A fluttering gale, the demon sends before, 

To tempt the spreading sail. Then down at once, 

Precipitant, descends a mingled mass 

Of roaring winds, and flame, and rushing floods. 

In wild amazement fix'd the sailor stands. 

Art is too slow : By rapid fate oppress'd, 

His broad-wing'd vessel drinks the whelming tide. 

Hid in the bosom of the black abyss. 

With such mad seas the daring fOama fought, 

For many a day, and many a dreadful night, 

Incessant, lab'ring round the stormy Cape.; 

By bold ambition led and bolder thirst 

Of gold. For then from ancient gloom emerged 

The rising w r orld of trade : the Genius, then, 

Of navigation, that, in hopeless sloth, 

Had slumber'd on the vast Atlantic deep* 

For idle ages, starting, heard at last 

The JLusitanian Prince ; who, Heav'n inspir^ 




'd 



* Called by sailors the Ox-eye, being in appearance at 
first no bigger. 

-{• Vasco de Gama, the first who sailed round Africa by the 
Cape of Good Hope, to the East Indies. 

J Don Henry, third son to John the first, king of Portugal. 
His strong genius to the discovery of new countries was the 
chief source of all the modern improvements in navigation. 






SUMMER. 1 1 1 



To love of useful glory rous'd mankind, 

And in unbounded Commerce mix'd the world. 

Increasing still the terrors of these storms, 
His jaws horrific arm'd with threefold fate, 
Here dwells the direful shark. Lur'd by the scent 
Of steaming crowds, of rank disease and death, . 
Behold ! he rushing cuts the briny flood, 
Swift as the gale can bear the ship along ; 
And, from the partners of that cruel trade, 
Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 
Demands his share-of prey ; demands themselves. 
The stormy fates descend : one death involves 
Tyrants and slaves ; when strait, their mangled limbs, 
Crashing at once, he dyes the purple seas 
With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 

When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains 
Flooded immense, looks put the joyless sun, 
And draws the copious steam : from swampy fens 
Where putrefaction into life ferments, 
And breathes destructive myriads ; or from woods, 
Impenetrable shades, recesses foul, 
In vapours rank and blue corruption wrapt,' 
Whose gloomy horrors yet no desperate foot 
Has ever dar'd to pierce ; then, wasteful, forth 
Walks the dire Power/of pestilent disease. 
A thousand hideous fiends her course attend, 
Sick Nature blasting, and to heartless woe, 
And feeble desolation, casting down 
The towering hopes and all the pride of Man. 
Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd 
The British lire. You, gallant Vernon, saw 



US SUMMER. 

The miserable scene ; you, pitying, saw 
To infant weakness sunk the warrior's arm ; 
Saw the deep racking pang, the ghastly form, 
The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye 
No more with ardour bright ; you heard the groans 
Of agonizing ships, from shore to shore : 
Heard, nightly plung'd amid the sullen waves, 
The frequent corse : while on each other fix'd, 
In sad presage, the blank assistants seem'd, 
Silent, to ask, whom Fate would next demand. 
What need I mention those inclement skies, 
Where frequent o'er the sick'ning city, Plague^ 
The fiercest child of Nemesis divine, 
Descends ? *From Ethiopia's poisoned woods, 
From stifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields 
With locust armies putrefying heap'd, 
This great destroyer sprung. Her awful rage 
The brutes escape : Man is her destined prey r 
Intemperate Man ! and o'er his guilty domes 
She draws a close incumbent cloud of death, 
Uninterrupted by the living winds, 
Forbid to blow a wholesome breeze, and stained 
With many a mixture by the sun, suffus'd, 
Of angry aspect. Princely wisdom, then 
Dejects his watchful eye, and from the hand 
Of feeble justice, ineffectual, drop 
The sword and balance ; mute the voice of joy, 
And hush'd the clamor of the busy world. 
Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad 

* These are the causes supposed to be the first origin of tht 
Plague* in Dr. Mead's elegant book on that subje&. 



SUMMER. 113 

Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd 
The cheerful haunt of men: unless escap'd 
From the doom'd house, where matchless horror 

reigns, 
Shut up by barbarous fear, the smitten wretch, 
With frenzy wild, breaks loose ; and loud to heaven 
Screaming the dreadful policy arraigns, 
Inhuman, and unwise. The sullen door, 
Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge 
Fearing to turn, abhors society ; 
Dependants, friends, relations, Love himself, . 
Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie, 
The sweet engagement of the feeling heart, 
But vain their selfish care : the circling sky, 
The wide enlivening air is full of fate ; 
And, struck by turns, in solitary pangs 
They fall, unblest, untended, and unmourn'd. ... 
Thus o'er the prostrate city black Despair 
Extends her raven wing ; while to complete 
The scene of desolation, stretch'd around, 
The grim guards stand, denying all retreat. 
And give the flying wretch a better death. 

Much yet remains unsung : the rage intense 
Of brazen-vaulted skies, of iron fields, 
Where drought and famine starve the blasted year s 
Fir'd by the torch of noon to tenfold rage. 
The infuriate hill that shoots thepillar'd flame ; 
And rous'd within the subterranean world. 
The expanding earthquake, that resistless shakes 
Aspiring cities from their solid base, 
And buries mountains in the flaming gulph* 

K.2. 



114 SUMMER. 

But 'tis enough ; return; my vagrant Muse : 
A nearer scene of horror calls thee home. 

Behold, slow settling o'er the lurid grove 
Unusual darkness broods : and growing gains 
The full possession of the sky, surcharg'd 
With wrathful vapour from the secret beds, 
Where sleep the Mineral generations, drawn. 
Thence Nitre, Sulphur, and the fiery spume 
Of fat Bitumen, steaming on the day, 
With various tinctur'd trains of latent flame 
Pollute the sky, and in yon baleful cloud, 
A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate, 
Ferment ; till, by the touch ^ethereal rous'd 5 
The dash of clouds, or irritating war 
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below 
They furious spring. A boding silence reigns, 
Dread thro' the dun expanse ; save the dull sound 
That from the mountain, previous to the storm, 
Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood, 
And shakes the forest-leaf without a breath. 
Prone, to the lowest vale, the serial tribes 
Descend : the tempest-loving raven scarce 
Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze 
The cattle stand, and on the scowling heavens 
Cast a deploring eye ; by Man forsook, 
Who to the crouded cottage hies him fast, 
Or seeks the shelter of the downward cave. 

'Tis listening fear, and dumb amazement all : 
When to the startled eye the sudden glance 
Appears far south, eruptive thro' the cloud : 
And following slower, in explosion vast. 



h 



SUMMER. i 15 

The Thunder raises his tremendous voice. 
At first, heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven,. 
The tempest growls ; but as it nearer comes 
And rolls its awful burden on the wind, 
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more 
The noise astounds : till over head a sheet 
Of livid flame discloses wide ; then shuts,. 
And opens wider : shuts and opens still 
Expansive, wrapping ether m a blaze. 
Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar,. 
Enlarging, deepening, mingling : peal on peal 
Crush'd horrible, convulsing heaven and earth. 

Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, 
Or prone descending rain. Wide rent the clouds 
Pour a whole flood * and yet, its flame unquench'd, 
Th' unconquerable lightning struggles through, 
Ragged and fierce, or in. red whirling balls,. 
And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. 
Black from the stroke, above the smouldering pine 
Stands a sad shattered trunk ; and stretch'd below, 
A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie : 
Here the soft flocks, with that same harmless look 
They wore alive, and ruminating still 
In fancy's eye ; and there the frowning bull,. 
And ox half-rais'd. Struck on the castled clifF 
The venerable tower and spiry fane 
Resign their aged pride. The gloomy woods 
Start at the flash, and from their deep recess, 
Wide flaming out, their trembling inmates shake,. 
Amid Carnarvon's mountains rages loud 
The repercussive roar ; with mighty crush, 






116 SUMMER. 

Into the flashing deep, from the rude rocks 
Of Penmanmaur he tp'd hideous to the sky, 
I umble the smitten cliffs ; and Snowden's peak 
dissolving, instant yields his wintry load 
Far seen, the heights of heathy Cheviot blaze, 
And Thule bellows thro' her utmost isles 

AnTvet "T, aPPall ' C '' WUh dCeply tr ° ubIed th *^> 

And yet not always on the guilty head 

Descends the fated flash. Young Celadon 

And his Amelia were a matchless pair ; 

With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace, 

The same, distinguish'd by their sex alone • 

Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn,' 

And his the radiance of the risen day. 

They lov'd ; but such their guileless passion 
As m the dawn of time inform'd the heart 
Of innocence, and undissembling truth 
= fwas friendship heightened by the mutual wish. 
Th inchantinghope, and sympathetic glow, 
Beam d from the mutual eye. Devoting all 
To love, each was to each a dearer self; 
Supremely happy in the awaken'd power 
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the shades, 
Still in harmonious intercourse they li K 'd 
The rural day, and talk'd, the flowing hear*, 
Or sigh'd and look'd unutterable things 

So, pass'd their life, a clear united stream, 
Ly care unrum'd ; till, in evil hour, 
The tempest caught them on the tender walk 
Heedless how far and where its mazes stray'd, 
While, with each other blest, creative love 






SUMMER. 117 



Still bade eternal Eden smile around. 

Presaging instant fate her bosom heav'd 

Unwonted sighs, and stealing oft a look 

Of the big gloom, on Celadon her eye 

Fell tearful, wetting her disorder'd cheek 

In vain assuring love and confidence 

In Heaven, repress'd her fear ; it grew, and shook 

Her frame near dissolution. He perceiv'd 

Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look 

On dying saints, his eyes compassion shed, 

With love illumin'd high. 'Fear not,' he said, 

4 Sweet innocence ! thou stranger to offence^ , 

4 And inward storm I He, who yon skies involves 

* In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee 

< With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft 

i That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour 
i Of noon, flies harmless : and that very voice, 
i Which thunders terror thro' the guilty heart, 

< With tongues of seraphs whispers peace to thin©> 
i 'Tis safety to be near thee sure, and thus 

i To clasp perfection !' From his void embrace, 
Mysterious Heaven ! that moment to the ground, 
A blackened corse, was struck the beauteous maid, 
But who can paint the lover, as he stood> 
Pierc'd by severe amazement, hating life. 
Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of woe ? 
So, faint resemblance ! on the marble tomb, 
The well-dissembled mourner stooping stands, 
For ever silent, and for ever sad. 

As from the face of heaven the shattered clouds, 
Tumultuous rove, th' interminable sky 



lia SUMMER. 

Sublimer swells, and o'er the world expands 
A purer azure. Thro 5 the lightened air, 
A higher lustre and a clearer calm, 
Diffusive, tremble ; while, as if in sign 
Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy, 
Set off abundant by the yellow ray, 
Invests the fields ; and nature smiles reviv'd. 

Tis beauty all, and grateful song around, 
Join'd to the low of kine, and numerous bleat 
Of flocks thick -nibbling thro* the clover'd vale. 
And shall the hymn be marr'd by thankless Man*. 
Most favour'd : who with voice articulate 
Should lead the chorus of this lower world ?. 
Shall he, so soon forgetful of the hand 
That hush'd the .thunder., and serenes the sky, 
Extinguish'd feel that spark the tempest wak'd. 
That sense of powers exceeding far his own, 
Ere yet his feeble heart has lost its fears ? 

Cheer'd by ihe milder beam, the sprightly youth 
Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth 
A sandy bottom shews. A while he stands 
Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid 
To meditate the blue profound below ; 
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood, 
His ebon tresses, and his rosy cheek 
Instant, emerge ; and thro' the obedient w^ave, 
At each short breathing by his lip repeli'd, 
With arms and legs according well, he makes. 
As humour leads, an easy winding path ; 
While from his polish'd sides, a dewy light 
Effuses on the pleas'd spectators round* 






SUMMER, \ \9 



This is the purest exercise of health, 
The kind refresher of the Summer heats ; 
Nor, when cold Winter keens the bright 'ning- flood, 
Would I weak shivering linger on the brink. 
Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserved 
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse 
Of accident disastrous. Hence; the limbs 
Knit into force ; and the same Roman arm, 
That rose victorious o'er the conquer'd earth, 
First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave- 
Even, from the body's purity, the mind 
Receives a secret sympathetic aid. 

Close in the covert of an hazel copse, 
Where winded into pleasing solitudes 
Runs out the rambling dale, young Damon sat, 
Pensive, and piere'd with love's delightful pangs ; 
There to the stream that down the distant rocks 
Hoarse-murmuring fell, and plaintive breeze that play 'd 
Among the bending willows, falsely he 
Of Musidora's cruelty complain'd, 
She felt his flame, but deep within her breast, 
In bashful coyness, or in maiden pride, 
The soft return conceal'd ; save when it stole 
In sidelong glances from her downcast eye, 
Or from her swelling soul in stifled sighs. 
Touch'd by the scene, no stranger to his vows, 
He fram'd a melting lay, to try her heart ; 
And, if an infant passion struggled there, 
To call that passion forth. Thrice happy swain i 
A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate 
'Of mighty monarchs then decided thine. 



ISO SUMMER. 

For lo ! conducted by the laughing loves, 
This cool retreat his Musidora sought ; 
Warm in her cheek the sultry season glow'd : 
And, rob'd in loose array, she came to bathe 
Her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream. 
What shall he do .? In sweet confusion, lost, 
And dubious fiutterings, he a while remained ; 
A pure ingenuous elegance of soul, 
A delicate refinement, known to few, 
Perplex'd his breast, and urg'd him to retire ; 
But love forbad. Ye prudes in virtue, say, 
Say, ye severest, what would ye have done ? 
Meantime this fairer nymph than ever blest 
Arcadian stream, with timid eye around 
The banks surveying, stripped her beauteous limb% 
To taste the lucid coolness of the flood. 
Ah ! then not Paris on the piny top 
Of Ida panted stronger, when aside 
The rival goddesses the veil divine 
Cast unconfin'd, and gave him all their charms, 
Than, Damon, thou ; as. from the snowy leg, 
And slender foot, th' inverted silk she drew; 
As the soft touch dissolv'd the virgin zone ; 
And, thro' th' parting robe, th' alternate breast, 
With youth wild throbbing, on thy lawless gaze 
In full luxuriance rose. But desperate youth, 
How durst thou risque the soul-distracting view ; 
As from her naked limbs, of glowing white, 
Harmonious swell'd by nature's finest hand, 
In folds loose floating fell the fainter lawn ; 
And fair expos'd she stood, shrunk from herself 






SUMMER. 121 



With fancy blushing, at the doubtful breeze 

Alarm'd, and starting like the fearful fawn ? 

Then to the flood she rush'd ; the parted flood 

Its lovely guest with closing waves receiv'd j 

And every beauty softening, every grace 

Flushing anew, a mellow lustre shed ; 

As shines the lilly thro' the crystal mild ; 

Or as the rose amid the morning dew, 

Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glows. 

While thus she wanton'd, now beneath the wave 

But ill-eonceal'd ; and now with streaming locks? 

That half-embrac'd her in a humid veil, 

Rising again, the latent Damon drew 

Such mad'ning draughts of beauty to the soul, 

As for a while o'erwhelm'd his raptur'd thought 

With luxury too daring. Check'd at last, 

By love's respectful modesty, he deem'd 

The theft profane, if aught profane to love 

Can e'er be deem'd ; and, struggling from the shade 

With headlong hurry fled : but first these lines 

Trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank 

With trembling hand he threw. * Bathe on, my fair, 

* Yet unbeheld save by the sacred eye 

i Of faithful love : I go to guard thy haunt, 

* To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot, 

* And each licentious eye.' With wild surprise. 
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense, 

A stupid moment motionless she stood : 

So stands the* statue that enchants the world? 

* The Venus of Medici. 
h 



122 SUMMER. 

So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, 
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece. 
Recovering, swift she flew to find those robes 
Which blissful Eden knew not ; and, array 'd 
In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatch'd. 
But, when her Damon's well known hand she saw, 
Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train 
Of mixt emotions, hard to be describ'd, 
Her sudden bosom seiz'd ; shame void of guilt, 
The charming blush of innocence, esteem 
And admiration of her lover's flame, 
By modesty exalted : even a sense 
Of self-approving beauty stole across 
Her busy thought. At length, a tender calm 
Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul ; 
And on the spreading beach, that o'er the stream 
Incumbent hung, she with the sylvan pen 
Of rural lovers this confession carv'd, 
Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy - 
« Dear youth ! sole judge of what these verses mean, 
'By fortune too much favour'd, but by love, 
'Alas ! not favour'd less, be still as now 
'Discreet: the time may come you need not fly.' 
^ The sun has lost his rage ! his downward orb 
Shoots nothing now but animating warmth 
And vital lustre : that, with various ray, 
Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven 
Incessant roll'd into romantic shapes, 
The dream of waking fancy ! Broad below 
Cover'd with ripening fruits, and swelling fast 
Into the perfect year, the pregnant earth 




PA 
T 



SUMMER. HZ 

Xnd all her tribes rejoice. Now the soft hour 
Of walking comes : for him who lonely loves 
To seek the distant hills, and there converse 
With Nature ; there to harmonize his heart 

nd in pathetic song to breathe around 
The harmony to others. Social friends, 
Attun'd to happy unison of soul ; 
To whose exalting eye a fairer world; 
Of which the vulgar never had a glimpse, 
Displays its charms ; whose minds are richly fraught 
With philosophic stores, superior light ; 
And in whose breast, enthusiastic, burns 
Virtue, the sons of interest deem romance : 
Now call'd abroad enjoy the falling day : 
Now to the verdant Portico of woods, 
To nature's vast Lyceum, forth they walk ; 
By that kind School where no proud master reigns 
The full free converse of the friendly heart, 
Improving and improv'd. Now from the world, 
Sacred to sweet retirement, lovers steal, 
And pour their souls in transport, which the Sire 
Of love approving hears, and calls it good. 
Which way, Amanda, shall we bend our course ? 
The choice perplexes. Wherefore should wechusc ? 
All is the same with thee. Say, shall we wind 
Along the streams ? or walk the smiling mead ? 
Or court the forest-glades ; or wander wild 
Among the waving harvest ? or ascend, 
While radiant Summer opens all its pride, 
Thy hill, delightful *Shene ? Here let us sweep 

* T^e old name of Richmond, signifying in Saxon, Shia- 
ing, ci Splendor. 



124 SUMMER. 

The boundless landscape : now the raptur'd eye, 

Exulting swift to huge Augusta send, 

Now to the t Sister Hills that skirt her plain 

To lofty Harrow now, and now to where 

Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow. 

In lovely contrast to this glorious view, 

Calmly magnificent, then will we turn 

To where the silver Thames first rural grows. 

There let the feasted eye unwearied stray : 

Luxurious, there, rove thro* the pendant woods 

That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat ; 

And, stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks? 

Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retir'd, 

With her the pleasing partner of his heart, 

The worthy Queensb'ry yet laments his Gay, 

And polish'd Cornbury wooes the willing Muse, 

Slow let us trace the matchles Vale of Thames j 

Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt 

][n Twitnam's bow'rs, and for their Pope implore 

The healing God ;* to royal Hampton's pile, 

To Clermont's terrass'd height, and Esher's groves, 

Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced 

By the soft windings of the silent Mole, 

From courts and senates Felham finds repose. 

Inchanting vale ! beyond whate'er the Muse 






! 



6 



Has of Achaia or Hesperia sun 
O vale of bliss 1 O softly-swelling hills I 
On which the Power of Cultivation lies. 
And joys to see the wonders of his toil. 

+ Highgate and Hamstead. 
* In his last sickness. 




SUMMER. 125 

Heavens ! what a goodly prospect spreads around, 
Of hills, and dales, and woods, and lawns, and spires, 
And glittering towns, and gilded streams, till alL 
The stretching landscape into smoke decays 1 
Happy Britannia ! where the Queen of arts, 
Inspiring vigour, Liberty abroad 
Walks, unconhn'd, even to thy farthest cots, 
And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 

Rich is thy soil, and merciful thy clime ; 
Thy streams unfailing in the Summer's drought ;: 
Unmatched thy guardian oaks ; thy valleys float 
With golden waves : and on thy mountains flocks 
Bleat numberless : while, roving round their sides, 
Bellow the blackening herds in lusty droves, 
Beneath thy meadows glow, and rise unqueli'd 
Against the mower's scythe. On every hand 
Thy villas shine. Thy country teams with wealth ; 
And property assures it to the swain, 
Pleas'd, and unwearied, in his guarded toil. 

Full are thy cities with the sons of art ; 
And trade and joy, in every busy street 
Mingling are heard ; even Drudgery himself 
As at the car he sweats, or dusty hews 
The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, 
Where rising masts an endless prospect yield, 
With labour burn, and echo to the shouts 
Of hurried sailor, as he hearty waves 
His last adieu, and, loosening every sheet, 
Resigns the spreading vessel to the wind. 

Bold, firm and graceful, are thy generous youth. 

By hardship sinew'd and by danger fir'd, 

h 2. 



126 SUMMER. 

Scattering the nations where they go ; and first,. 
Or on the listed plain, or stormy seas. 
Mild are thy glories too, as o'er the plans 
Of thriving peace thy thoughtful sires preside 
In genius, and substantial learning, high ; 
For every virtue, every worth, renown'd ; 
Sincere, plain -hearted, hospitable, kind ; 
Yet like the mustering thunder when provok'd,* 
The dread of tyrants, and the sole resource 
Of those that under grim oppression groan. 
Thy Sons of Glory many ! Alfred thine, 
In whom the splendor of heroic war, 
And more heroic peace, when governed well. 
Combine ; whose hallowed name the virtuous saints 
And his own Muses love ; the best of Kings ! 
With him thy Edwards and thy Henrys shine ; 
Names dear to Fame ; the first who deep impressed 
On haughty Gaul, the terror of thy arms, 
That awes her genius still. In Statesmen thou. 
And Patriots, fertile. Thine a steady More 5 
Who, with a generous, tho' mistaken zeal, 
Withstood a orutal tyrant's direful rage, 
Like Cato firm, like Aristides just,. 
Like rigid Cincinnati! s nobly poor, 
A dauntless soul erect, who smii'd on death. 
Frugal, and wise a Walsingham is thine ; 
A Drake, who made thee mistress of the deep, 
And bore thy name in thunder round the world. 
Then flam'd thy spirit high : but who can speak 
The numerous worthies of the Maiden Reign ? 
In Raleigh mark their every glory n ix'd : 





SUMMER". ut 

Raleigh, the scourge of Spain ! whose breast with ail 
The sage, the patriot, and the hero burn'd, 
Nor sunk his vigour, when a coward reign 
The warrior fetter'd, and at last resign'd, 
To glut the vengeance of a vanquished foe. 
Then, active still and unrestrain'd, his mind 
Explor'd the vast extent of ages past, 
And with his prison-hours enrich'd the world ; ; 
Yet found no times, in all the long research, 
So glorious, or so base, as those he prov'd, 
In which he conquer'd, and in which he bled. 
Nor can the Muse the gallant Sidney pass, 
The plume of war ! with early laurels crown'd. 
The Lover's myrtle, and the Poet's bay. 
A Hambden too is thine, illustrious land. 
Wise, strenuous, firm, of unsubmitting soul, ; 
Who stem'd the torrent of a downward age 
To slavery prone, and bade thee rise again, 
In all thy native pomp of freedom bold. 
Bright, at his call, thy Age of Men effulg'd, 
Of Men on whom late time a kindling eye 
Shall turn, and tyrants tremble while they read, 
Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew 
The grave where Russel lies ; whose temper'd blood. 
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resign'd, 
Stain'd the sad annals of a giddy reign ; 
Aiming at lawless power, tho' meanly sunk 
In loose inglorious luxury. With him, 
His friend, the ^British Cassius, fearless bled ; 
Of high determined spirit, roughly brave, 
* Algeron Sidney. 



128 SUMMER. 

By ancient learning to th' eniighten'd love 
Of ancient freedom warm'd. Fair thy renown 
In awful Sages and in noble Bards ; 
Soon as the light of dawning Science spread 
Her orient ray, and wak'd the Muse's song. 
Thine is a Bacon, hapless in his choice-, 
Unfit to stand the civil storm of state, 
And through the smooth barbarity of courts, 
With firm but pliant virtue, forward still 
To urge his course : him for the studious shade 
Kind Nature form'd, deep, comprehensive j clear, 
Exact, and elegant : in one rich soul, 
Plato, the Stagy rite, and Tully join'd. 
The great deliverer he ! who from the gloom 
Of cloister'd monks, and jargon-teaching scho 
Led forth the true Philosophy, there long 
Held in the magic chain of words and forms, 
And definitions void : he led her forth, 
Daughter of Heaven ! that slaw-ascending still, 
Investigating sure the chain of things, 
With radiant finger points to Heaven again 
The generous t Ashley thine, the friend of 
Who scann'd his Nature with a brother's eye 
His weakness prompt to shade, to raise his 
To touch the finer movements of the mind, 
And with the moral beauty charm the heart. 
Why need I name thy Boyle, whose pious search 
Amid the dark recesses of his works, 
The great Creator sought ? And why thy Locke, 
Who made the whole internal world his own ! 
f Antony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftsbury* 




'Man;- 
: ye, 
5 aim> 



SUMMER. 129 

Let Newton, pure Intelligence, whom God 

To mortals lent, to trace his boundless works 

From laws sublimely simple, speak thy fame 

In all philosophy. For lofty sense, 

Creative fancy, and inspection keen 

Thro' the deep windings of the human heart, 

Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast ? 

Is not each great, each amiable Muse 

Of classic ages in thy Milton met ? 

A genius universal as his theme ; 

Astonishing as Chaos, as the bloom 

Of blowing Eden fair, as Heaven sublime. 

Nor shall my verse that eider bard forget, 

The gentle Spencer, Fancy's pleasing son ; 

Who, like a copious river, pour'd his song 

O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground : 

Nor thee, his ancient master laughing sage, 

Chaucer, whose native manners painting verse, 

Well-moraliz'd, shines thro' the Gothic cloud 

Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown. 

May my song soften, as thy Daughters I, 
Britannia, hail 1 for beauty is their own, 
The feeling heart, simplicity of life, 
And elegance, and taste : the faultless form* 
Shap'd by the hand of Harmony ; the cheek, 
Where the live crimson, thro' the native white, 
Soft shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom, 
And every nameless grace ; the parted lip, 
Like the red rcse-bud moist with morning dew- x 
Breathing delight ; and, under flowing jet, 
Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brov/n, 



ISO SUMMER. 

The neck slight shaded, and the swelling breast ; 
The look resistless, piercing to the soul, 
And by the soul inform'd, when drest in love 
She sits high smiling in the conscious eye. 

Island of bliss ! amid the subject seus 
That thunder round thy rocky coasts, set uj 
At once the wonder, terror, and delight 
Of distant nations ; whose remotest shores 
Can soon be shaken by thy naval arm ; 
Not to be shook thyself, but all assaults 
Baffling, as thy hoar cliffs the loud sea wave. 

O Thou ! By whose almighty nod the scale 
Of empire rises, or alternate falls, 
Send forth the saving Virtues round the land, . 
In bright patrol : white Peace, and social Love > 
The tender-looking Charity, intent 
On gentle deeds, and shedding tears thro' smiles ; 
Undaunted Truth, and Dignity of mind ; 
Courage composed, and keen ; sound Temperance 
Healthful in heart and look ; clear Chastity, 
With blushes reddening as she moves along, 
Disordered at the deep regard she draws : 
Rough Industry ; Activity untir'd 
With copious life inform'cl, and all awake ; 
While in the radiant front, superior shines 
That first paternal virtue, Public Zeal ; 
Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey, 
And, ever musing on the common weal, 
Still labours glorious with some great desig 

Low walks the sun, and broadens by degrees 
Just o'er the verge of day. The shifting clouds 



: 



SUMMER. 131 

Assembled gay, a richly-gorgeous train, 

In all their pomp attend his setting throne. 

Air, earth, and ocean smile immense. And now. 

As if his weary chariot sought the bowers, 

Of Amphitrite, and her tending nymphs, 

(So Grecian fable sung) he dips his orb ; 

Now half-immers'd ; and now a golden curve 

Gives one bright glance, then total disappears. 

For ever running an enchanted round, 
Passes the day, deceitful, vain and void ; 
As fleets the vision o'er the formful brain. 
This moment hurrying wild th* impassion 'd soul. 
The next in nothing lost. 'Tis so to him, 
The dreamer of this earth, an idle blank : 
A sight of horror to the cruel wretch, 
Who all day long in sordid pleasure roll'd, 
Himself an useless load, has squander'd vile, 
Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheer M 
A drooping family of modest worth. 
But to the generous still improving mind, 
That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, 
Diffusing kind beneficence around, 
Boastless as now descends the silent dew ; 
To him the long review of order'd life 
Is inward rapture, only to be felt. 

Confessed from yonder slow-extinguish'd cloudy 
All ether softening, sober Evening takes 
Her wonted station in the middle air ; 
A thousand shadows at her beck. First this 
She sends on earth ; then that of deeper dye 
Steals soft behind \ and then a deeper still, 



132 SUMMER. 

In circle following circle, gathers round, 
To close the face of things. A fresher gale 
Begins to wave the wood, and stir the stream, 
Sweeping with shadowy gust the fields of corn ; 
While the quail clamours for his running mate. 
Wide o'er the thistly lawn, as swells the breeze, 
A whitening shower of vegetable down 
Amusive floats. The kind impartial care 
Of Nature nought disdains : thoughtful to feed 
Her lowest sons, and clothe the coming year, 
From field to field the feathered seeds she wings* 

His folded flock secure, the shepherd home 
Hies, merry-hearted ; and by turns relieves 
The ruddy milk-maid of her brimming pail ; 
The beauty w.hom perhaps his witless heart, 
Unknowing what the joy mixt anguish means, ( 
Sincerely loves, by that best language shewn 
Of cordial glances and obliging deeds. 
Onward they pass, o'er many a panting height, 
And valley sunk, and unfrequented ; where 
At fall of eve the fairy people throng, 
In various game, and revelry, to pass 
The summer-night, as village stories tell. 
But far about they wander from the grave 
Of him, whom his ungentle fortune urg'd 
Against his own sad breast to lift the hand 
Of impious violence. The lonely tower 
Is also shunnM ; whose mournful chambers hold, 
So night-struck Fancy dreams, the yelling ghost. 

Among the crooked lanes, on every hedge, 
The glow-worm lights his gem ; and, thro* the dark, 



. 




. 



SUMMER, 133 



moving radiance twinkles. Evening yields 
The world to Night ; not in her winter robe, 
Of massy Stygian woof, but loose array 'd 
In mantle dun. A faint erroneous ray, 
Glanc'd from the imperfect surfaces of things, 
Flings half an image on the straining eye ; 
While wavering woods, and villages, and streams, 
And rocks, and mountain-tops, that long retained 
Th' ascending gleam, are all one swimming scene, 
Uncertain if beheld. Sudden to heaven 
Thence weary vision turns ; where, leading soft 
The silent hours of love, with purest ray 
Sweet Venus shines ; and from her genial rise. 
When day -light sickens till it springs afresh, 
Unrival'd reigns, the fairest lamp of night. 
As thus th' effulgence tremulous I drink, 
With cherishM gaze, the lambent lightnings shoot 
Across the sky ; or horizontal dart 
In wondrous shapes ; by fearful murmuring crowds 
Portentous deem'd. Amid the radiant orbs, 
That more than deck, that animate the sky, 
The life infusing suns of other worlds ; 
Lo ! from the dread immensity of space 
Returning with accelerated course. 
The rushing comet to the sun descends ; 
And as he sinks below the shading earth, 
With awful train projected o'er the heavens', 
The guilty nations tremble. But, above 
Those superstitious horrors that enslave 
The fond sequacious herd, to mystic faith 

And blind amazement prone, the eniighten'd few> 

u 



134 SUMMER. 

Whose god-like minds philosophy exalts, 
The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 
Divinely great ; they in their powers exult, 
That wondrous force of thought, which mounting 

spurns 
This dusky spot, and measures all the sky ; 
While, from his far excursion thro' the wilds 
Of barren ether, faithful to his time, 
They see the blazing wonder rise anew, 
In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent 
To work the will of all-sustaining Love : 
From his huge vapoury train perhaps to shak* 
Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, 
Thro' which his long ellipsis winds ; perhaps 
To lend new fuel to declining suns, 
To light up worlds, and feed thf eternal fire. 
With thee, serene Philosophy, with th@e, 
And thy bright garland, let me crown my song i 
Effusive source of evidence, and truth ! 
A lustre shedding o'er th' ennobled mind, 
Stronger than summer noon ; and pure as that, 
Whose mild vibrations sooth the parted soul. 
New to the dawning of celestial day. 
Hence thro' her nourish *d powers, enlarg'd by the% 
She springs aloft, with elevated pride, 
Above the tangling mass of low desires, 
That bind the fluttering crowd ; and angel-wingM 
The height ; of science, and of virtue gains, 
Where all is calm and clear ; with Nature round. 
Or in the starry regions, or th' abyss, 
To Reason's and to Fancy's eye display'd : 



SUMMED. | 

The First up tracing, from the dreary void, 
The chain of causes and effects to Him, 
The world producing Essence, who alone 
Possesses being ; while the Last receives 
The whole magnificence of heaven and earth, 
And every beauty, delicate or bold, 
Obvious or more remote, with livelier sense 
Diffusive painted on the rapid mind. 

Tutor'd by thee, hence Poetry exalts 
Her voice to ages ; and informs the page 
With music, image, sentiment, and thought, 
Never to die ! the treasure of mankind I 
Their highest honour, and their truest joy ! 

Without thee what were unenlightened Man ? 
A savage roaming thro' the woods and wilds, 
In quest of prey ; and with th' unfashion'd fur 
Sough clad ; devoid of every finer art, 
And elegance of life. Nor happiness 
Domestic, mix'd of tenderness and care, 
Nor moral excellence, nor social bliss, 
Nor guardian law were his ; nor various skill 
To turn the furrow, or to guide the tool 
Mechanic ; nor the heaven conducted prow 
Of navigation bold, that fearless braves 
The burning line, or dares the wintry pole 1 
Mother severe of infinite delights ! 
Nothing, save rapine, indolence, and guile, 
And woes on woes, a still revolving train ! 
Whose horrid circle had made human life 
Than non-existence worse : but, taught by the*> 
Ours are the plans of policy, and peace ; 



IS* SUMMER. 

To live like brothers, and conjunctive all 
Embellish life^ While thus laborious crowds 
Ply the tough oar, Philosophy directs 
The ruling helm ; or like the liberal breath 
Of potent Heaven, invisible, the sail 
Swells out, and bears th' inferior world along. 

Nor to this evanescent speck of earth 
Poorly confin'd, the radiant tracts on high 
Are her exalted range ; intent to gaze 
Creation thro' ; and from that full complex 
Of never-ending wonders, to conceive 
Of the Sole Being right, who spoke the Word, 
And Nature mov'd complete. With inward viewy 
Thence on th' ideal kingdom swift she turns 
Her eye : and instant, at her powerful glance, 
The obedient phantoms vanish or appear ; 
Compound, divide, and into order shift, 
Each to his rank, from plain perception up 
To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train : 
To reason then, deducing truth from truth ; 
And notion quite abstract ; where first begin* 
The world of spirits, action all, and life 
Unfetter'd, and unmixt. But here the cloud, 
So wills Eternal Providence, sits deep. 
Enough for us to know that this dark state, 
In wayward passions lost, and vain pursuits, 
This Infancy of Being cannot prove 
The final issue of the works of God, 
By boundless Love and perfect Wisdom form'ct? 
And ever rising with the rising mind. 



AUTUMN. 



*** 




THE ARGUMENT. 

The subject proposed.... Addressed to Mr. Onslow. ...A 
firosfiect of the fields ready for harvest. ...Reflection* 
in praise of industry raised by that view.... Reaping..., 
A tale relative to it. ...A harvest storm.... Shooting and 
hunting, their barbarity.... A ludicrous account of fox ~ 
hunting.... A view of an or chard.. ..Wall-fruit..*. A vine-* 
yard.... A description of fogs, frequent in the latter 
part of Autumn : whence a digression, enquiring 
into the rise of fountains and rivers. ...Birds of season 
considered, that now shift their habitation.... The pro- 
digious number of them that cover the northern and 
western isles of Scotland.., .Hence a view of the coun* 
try.... A prospect of the discoloured, fading woods..,. 
After a gentle dusky day, mo on-light.... Autumnal 
meteors. .. .Morning : to which succeeds a calm, pure,, 
sun-shiny day, such as usually shuts up the season.... 
The harvest being gathered in, the country dissolved 
in joy.... The whole Concludes with a panegyric on a- 
philosophical country life. 




AUTUMN. 



CROWNED with the sickle and the wheaten sheaf, 
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, 
Comes jovial on ; the Doric reed once more> 
Well pleas'd I tune. Whatever the Wintry frost,. 
Nitrous prepar'd ; the varicus-biossom'd Spring 
Put in white promise forth ; and Summer suns 
Concocted strong, rush boundless now to view, 
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme. 

Onslow ! the Muse, ambitious of thy name, 
To grace, inspire, and dignify her song, 
Would from the Public Voice thy gentle ear 
A while engage. Thy noble cares she knows, 
The patriot virtues that distend thy thought, 
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow ; 
While listening senates hang upon thy tongue* 
Devolving thro' the maze of eloquence 
A roll of periods, sweeter than her song. 
But she too pants for public virtue, she, 
Tho' weak of power, yet strong in ardent will, 
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, 
Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries 
To mix the Patriot's with the Poet's flame- , 






F40 AUTUMN. 

When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days, 
And Libra weighs in equal scales the year ; 
From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook 
Off parting Summer, a serener blue, 
With golden light enlivened, wide invests 
The happy world. Attemper'd suns arise, 
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid clouds, 
A pleasing calm ; while broad and brown, below 
Extensive harvests hang the heavy head : 
Rich) silent, deep, they stand ; for not a gale 
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain : 
A calm of plenty ! till the ruffled air 
Falls from its poize, and gives the breeze to blow.. 
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky ; 
The clouds fly different ; and the sudden sun 
By fits effulgent gilds th' illumin'd field, 
And black by fits the shadows sweep along. 
A gaily checkered heart-expanding view 
Far as the circling eye can shoot around, 
Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn.. 

These are thy blessings, Industry ! rough power! 
Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain ; 
Yet the I:ind source of every gentle art, 
And all the soft civility of life; 
Raiser of human kind ! by Nature cast, 
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods 
And wilds, to rude inclement elements ; 
With various seeds of art deep in the mind 
Implanted, and profusely pour'd around 
Materials infinite ; but idle all. 
Still unexerted; in th' unconscious breast* 



AUTU I-il 

Slept the lethargic powers ; corruption still, 
Voracious, swallowed what the liberal hand 
Of bounty scatter'd o'er the savage year. 
And still the sad barbarian roving, mix'd 
With beasts of prey ; or for his acorn-meal 
Fought the fierce tusky boar ; a shivering wretch I 
Aghast, and comfortless, when the bleak north 
With Winter chargM, let the mixt tempest fly, 
Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing frost : 
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled ; 
And the wild season, sordid, pin'd away. 
For home he had not ; home is the resort 
Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty, where, 
Supporting and supported, polish'd friends* 
And dear relations mingle into bliss. 
But this the rugged savage never felt* 
Even desolate in crowds ; and thus his days 
Roll'd heavy, dark, and unenjoy'd along ; 
A waste of time I till Industry approach'd* 
And rous'd him from his miserable sloth j 
His faculties unfolded : pointed out* 
Where lavish Nature the directing hand 
Of art demanded ; show'd him how to raise 
His feeble force by the mechanic powers, 
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth ; 
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire, 
On what the torrent and the gather'd blast ; 
Cave the tall ancient forest to his axe : 
Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the stone, 
Till by degrees the finished fabric rose ; 
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur. 



Ut AUTUMN. 

And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm* 
Or bright in glossy silk* and flowing lawn ; 
With wholesome viands fill'd his table, pour r & 
The generous glass around, inspired to wake 
The life refining soul of decent wit : 
Nor stopp'd at barren bare necessity ; 
But still advancing bolder, led him on 
To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ; 
And, breathing high ambition thro' his soul^ 
Set science, wisdom, glory in his view, 
And bade him bethe Lord of all below. 

Then gathering men their natural powers com 
bin'd, 
And form'd a public ; to the general good 
Submitting, aiming, and conducting all. 
For this the Patriot Council met, the full, 
The free,, and fairly represented Whole ; 
For this they plann'd the holy., guardian laws? 
Distinguish'd orders, animated arts, 
And with joint force Oppression chaining, s.et 
Imperial Justice at the helm ; yet still 
To them accountable : nor slavish dream'd 
That toiling millions must resign their weal, 
And all the honey of their search, to such 
As for themselves alone themselves have jais'el- 

Hence every form of cultivated life 
In order set, protected and inspir'd 
Into perfection wrought. Uniting all, 
Society grew numerous, high, polite, , 
And happy. Nurse of art ! the city rear'd 
In beauteous pride her tower-encircling head. 



AUTUMN. 143 

And, stretching street on street, by thousands drew, 
From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 
To bows strong straining, her aspiring sons. 

Then commerce brought into the public walk 
The busy merchant ; the big ware-house built ; 
Rais'd the strong crane ; choak'd up the loaded street 
With foreign ptehty ; and thy stream, O Thames, 
Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods ] 
Chose for his grand resort On either hand, 
Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts 
Shot up their spires ; the bellying sheet between 
Possess'd the breezy void ; the sooty hulk 
Steer'd sluggish on ; the splendid barge along 
Row'd, regular, to harmony ; around, 
The boat light skimming, stretch'dits oary wings ; 
While deep the various voice of fervent toil 
From bank to bank increased ; whence ribb'd with oak, 
To bear the British thunder, black, and bold, 
"The roaring vessel rush'd into the main. 

Then too the pillarM dome, magnific, heav'd 
Its ample roof ; and luxury within 
Pour'd out her glitt'ring stores ; the canvass smooth, 
With glowing life protuberant, to the view 
Embodied rose j the statue seem'd to breathe. 
And soften into flesh, beneath the touch 
Of forming art, imagination flush'cL 

All is the gift of Industry ; whatt'er 
Exalts, embellishes j and renders life 
Delightful. Pensive Winter cheer'd by him 
Sits at the social fire, and happy hears 
(th* excluded tempest idly rave along ; 




144 AUTUMN. 

His hardened fingers deck the gaudy Spring ^ 
Without him Summer were an arid waste, 
Nor to th' Autumnal months could thus transmit 
Those full, mature, immeasurable stores, 
That waving round, recal my wandering song, 
Soon as the morning trembles o'er the sky, 
Arc], unperceiv'd, unfolds the spreading day ; 
Before the ripen'd field the reapers stand, 
In fair array ; each by the lass he loves, 
To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 
By nameless gentle offices her toil. 
At once they stoop and swell the lusty sheaves ! 
While thro 5 their cheerful band the rural talk, 
The rural scandal, and the rural jest, 
Fly harmless, to deceive the tedious time, 
And steal unfelt the sultry hours away, 
.Behind the master walks, builds up his shocks ; 
And, conscious, glancing oft on every side 
His sated eye, feels his heart heave with joy. 
The gleaners spread around, and here and there, 
Spike after spike, their scanty harvest pick. 
Be not too narrow, husbandmen ! but Ring 
From the full sheaf, with charitable stealth, 
The liberal handful. Think, oh grateful think ! 
How good the God of harvest is to you ; 
Who pours abundance o'er your flowing fields ; 
While these unhappy partners of your kind 
Wide hover round you, like the fowls of heaven, 
And ask their humble dole. The various turns 
Of fortune ponder ; that your sons may want 
Whatuow, with hard reluctance, faint ye give. 






AUTUMN. 145 

The lovely young Lavima once had friends : 
And Fortune smiled, deceitful, on her birth. 
For in her helpless years deprived of a 
Of every stay, save Innocence and Heaven, 
She, with her widow'd mother, feeble, old, 
And poor, liv'd in a cottage far retir'd 
Among the windings of a woody vale ; 
. By solitude and c vdes, 

But more by bashful modesty, conceai'd. 
Together thus they shunn'd the cruel scorn 
Which virtue, sunk to poverty, would mttt 
From giddy passion and low-minded pride : 
Almost on Nature's common bounty fed ; 
Like the gay birds that sung them to repose, 
Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare. 
Her form was fresher than the morning-rose, 
When the dew wets its leaves ; unstain'd, and pur# 
As is the lilly, or the mountain snow. 
The modest virtues mingled in her eyes, 
Still on the ground dejected, darting all 
Their humid beams into the blooming flowers : 
Or when the mournful tale her mother told, 
Of what her faithless fortune promis'd once, 
Thnll'd in her thought, they, like the dewy star 
Of evening, shone in tears, A native grace 
Sat fair proportion'd on her polish'd limbs, 
Veil'd in a simple robe, their best attire, 
Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness 
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, 
But is when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most. 
Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self 




146 AUTUMN. 

Hecluse amid the close-embowering woods. 
As in the hollow breast of Appenine, 
Beneath the shelter of encircling hills, 
A myrtle rises, far from human eye, 
And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the wild ^ 
So flourished blooming, and unseen by all, 
The sweet Lavinia ; till, at length, compelled 
By strong Necessity's supreme command, 
With smiling patience in her looks, she went 
To glean Palcmon's fields. The pride of swains 
Palemon was, the generous, and the rich ; 
Who led the rural life in all its joy, 
And elegance, such as Arcadian song 
Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times; 
When tyrant custom had not shackled Man, 
But free to follow Nature was the mode. 
He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes 
Amusing* chane'd beside his reaper-train 
To w r alk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye ; 
Unconscious of her power, and turning quick 
With unaffected blushes from his gaze : 
He saw her charming, but he saw not half 
The charms her down-cast modesty conceaPd. 
That very moment love and chaste desire 
Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown : 
For still the world prevaii'd, and its dread laugh^ 
Which scarce the 5rm philosopher can scorn, 
Should his heart own a gleaner in the field : 
And thus in secret to his soul he sigh'd. 
* What pity ! that so delicate a form, 
* By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense, 



AUTUMN. 147 

r And more than vulgar goodness seem to dwell, 

* Should be devoted to the rude embrace 

1 Of some indecent clown ! She looks, me thinks, 
4 Of old Acasto's line ; and to my mind 

* Recals thafcpatroii of rny happy life, 

* From whom my liberal fortune took its rise : 

4 Now to the dust gone down ; his houses, lands, 
4 And once -fair spreading family, dissolved, 

< 'Tis said that in some lone obscure retreat, 

< Urg'd by remembrance sad, and decent pride, 

c Far from those scenes which knew their better days, 

* His aged widow and his daughter live, 

i Whom yet my fruitless search could never find. 
( Romantic wish ! would this the daughter were 1* 

When, strict enquiring, from herself he found 
She was the same, the daughter of his friend, 
Of bountiful Acasto ; who can speak 
The mingled passions that surpris'd his heart, 
And thro' his nerves in shivering transport ran ! 
Then blaz'd his smother'd flame, avow'd, and bold ; 
And as he view'd her, ardent, o'er and o'er, 
Love, gratitude, and pi at once. 

Confus'd, and frighten'd at his sadden tears, 
Her rising beauties Rush'd a higher bloom, 
As thus Palemon, passionate and just, 
Pour'd out the pious rapture of his soul. 

1 And art thou, then, Acasto's clear remains ! 

< She whom my restless gratitude has sought, 

« So long in vain ? O heavens ! the very same ; 
1 The soften'd image of my noble friend, 
6 Aiive, his every look, his every feature. 



148 AUTUMN. 

More elegantly touchM. Sweeter than Spring- I 
Thou soul surviving blossom from the root 
That nourish'd up my fortune ! Say, ah where. 
In what sequester'd desert, has thou drawn 
The kindest aspect of delighted Heaven ? 
Into such beauty spread, and blown so fair ; 
Tho* poverty's cold wind, and crushing rain, 
Beat keen, and heavy on thy tender years ? 
O let me how, into a richer soil, 
Transplant thee safe ! where vernal suns and showers. 
Diffuse their warmest, largest influence ; 
And of my garden be the pride, and joy ! 
Ill it befits thee, oh it ill befits 
Acasto's daughter, his whose open stores, 
Tho' vast, were little to his ampler heart, 
The father of a country, thus to pick 
The very refuse of those harvest fields, 
Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. 
Then throw that shameful pittance from thy hand, 
But ill apply 'd to such a rugged task : 
The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine ; 
If, to the various blessings which thy house 
Has on me lavished, thou wilt add that bliss, 
That dearest bliss, the^power of blessing thee V 
Here ceas 5 d the youth ; yet still bis speaking ey® 
Expressed the sacred triumph of his soul, 
With conscious virtue, gratitude and love, 
Above the vulgar joy divinely rais'd. 
Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm 
Ofgc irresistible, and all 

In sweet disorder lost, she blush'd consent. 





AUTUMN. u* 

The news immediate to her mother brought, 
While pierc'd with anxious thought, she pin'd away 
The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate ; 
Amaz'd, and scarce believing what she heard, 
Joy seiz'd her witherM veins, and one bright gleam, 
Of setting life shone on her evening hours ; 
Not less enraptur'd than the happy pair ! 
Who flourished long in tender bliss, and rear'd 
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves, 
And good, the grace of all the country round. 

Defeating oft the labours of the year, 
The sultry south collects a potent* blast. 
At first the groves are scarcely seen to stir 
Their trembling tops ; and a still murmur runs 
Along the soft inclining fields of corn. 
But as the serial tempest fuller swells, 
And in one mignly stream, invisible, 
Immense, the whole excited atmosphere, 
Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world ; 
Strain'd to the root, the stooping forest pours 
A rustling shower of yet untimely leaves. 
High-beat, the circling mountains eddy in, 
From the bare wild, the dissipated storm. 
And send ic in a torrent down the vale. 
Expos'd, and naked, to its utmost rage, 
Thro' all the sea of harvest rolling round, 
The billowy plain floats wide ; nor can evade, 
Tho' pliant to the blast, its seizing force ; 
Or whiri'd in air, or into vacant chaff 
Shook waste. And sometimes too a burst of rain, 

Sw T ept from the black horizon, broad descends 

n 2 



150 AUTUMN. 

In one continuous flood. Still over head 
The mingling tempest waves its gloom, and still 
The deluge deepens ; till the fields around 
Lie sunk, and flatted, in the sordid wave. 
Sudden, the ditches swell ; the meadows swim. 
Red, from the hills, innumerable streams 
Tumultuous roar : and high above its banks 
The river lift ; before whose rushing tide, 
Herds$ flocks, and harvest, cottages, and swains, 
Roll mingled down ; all that the winds had spar'd 
In one wild moment ruin'd ; the big hopes, 
And well earn'd treasures of the painful year. 
Fled to some eminence the husbandman, 
Helpless, beholds the miserable wreck 
Driving along ; his drowning ox at once 
Descending, with his labours scatter'd round, 
He sees ; and instant o'er his shivering thought 
Comes winter unprovided, and a train 
Of clamant children dear. Ye masters, then, 
Be mindful of the rough laborious hand, 
That sinks you soft in elegance and ease ; 
Be mindful of those limbs in russet clad, 
Whose toil to yours is warmth, and graceful pride ; 
And oh be mindful of that sparing board, 
Which covers yours with luxury profuse ; 
Makes your glass sparkle, and your sense rejoice I 
Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains, 
And all-involving winds have swept away. 

Here the rude clamour of the sportsman's joy, 
The gun fast thundering, and the winded horn, 
Would tempt the Muse to sing the rural Game : 






autumn; ■ tot 



How, in his mid career, the spaniel struck,. 
Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nose, 
Outstretched, and finely sensible, draws full, 
Fearful, and cautious, on the latent prey ; 
As in the sun the circling- covey bask 
Their varied plumes, and watchful every way, 
Thro' the rough stubble turn the secret eye, 
Caught in the meshy snare, in vain they beat 
Their idle wings, entangled more and more : 
Nor on the surges of the boundless air, 
Tho' borne triumphant, are they safe ; the gun, 
Glanc'd just, and sudden, from the fowler's eye* 
O'ertakes their sounding pinions ; and again, 
Immediate, brings them from the towering wing, 
Dead to the ground ; or drives them wide-dispersed* 
Wounded, and wheeling various, down the wind. 

These are not subjects for the peaceful Muse,. ' 
Nor will she stain with such her spotless song \ 
Then most delighted, when she social sees 
The whole mix'd animal creation round 
Alive, and happy. 'Tis not joy to her, 
This falsely-cheerful barbarous game of death ; 
This rage of pleasure, which the restless youth 
Awakes^ impatient, with the gleaming morn ; 
When beasts of prey retire, that all night long, 
\ Urg'd by necessity, had rang'd the dark, 
As if their conscious ravage shunn'd the light, 
Asham'd. Not so the steady tyrant man, 
Who with the thoughtless insolence of power 
Inflam'd, beyond the most infuriate wrath 
Of the worst monster that e'er roam'd the waste, 




15% AUTUMN. 

For sport alone pursues the cruel chase, 
Amid the beamings of the gentle days. 
Upbraid y ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage. 
For hunger kindles you, and lawless want ; 
But lavish fed, in Nature's bounty roll'd. 
To joy at anguish, and delight in blood, 
Is what your horrid bosoms never knew. 

Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare ! 
Scar'd from the corn, and now to some lone 
Retir'd ; the rushy fen, the ragged furze, 
Stretch 'd o'er the stony heath ; the stubble chapt ; 
The thistly lawn ; the thick entangled broom ; 
Of the same friendly hue the wither'd fern ; 
The fallow ground laid open to the sun, 
Concoctive ;, and the nodding sandy bank, 
Hung o'er the mazes cf the mountain brook. 
Vain is her best precaution ; tho' she sits 
Conceal'd, with folded ears ; unsleeping ey< 
By nature rais'd to take the horizon in ; 
And head couch'd close betwixt her hairy fe 
In act to spring away. The scented dew 
Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep, 
In scattered sullen openings, far behind, 
With every breeze she hears the coming sto 
But nearer and more frequent, as it loads 
The sighing gale, she springs amaz'd, and all 
The savage soul of game is up at once : 
The pack full opening, various ; the shiill horn 
Resounded from the hills ; the neighing steed, 
Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunter's shout ; 
O'er a weak, harmless, flying creature, all 
Mix'd in mad tumult, and discordant joy. 



i 

■ AUTUMN. 151 

The stag, too, singled from the herd, where long 
He rang'd the branching- monarch of the shades> 
Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed 
He, sprightly, puts his faith ; and rous'd by fear> 
Gives all his swift aerial soul to flight ; 
Against the breeze he darts, that way the more 
To leave the lessening murderous cry behind : 
Deception short ! tho' fleeter than the winds 
Blown o'er the keen air'd mountain by the north 
He bursts the thickets, glances thro' the glades, 
And plunges deep into the wildest wood ; 
If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track 
Hot steaming, ijpt im come again. 

Th' inhuman rout, and from the shady depth 
Expel him, circling through his every shift. 
He sweeps the forest eft, and sobbing sees 
The glades, mild opening to the golden day : 
Where, in kind contest, with his butting friends 
He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy. 

! Oft in the full-dcscendin rr Hood he tries 
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides ; 
Oft seeks the herd ; the watchful herd, alarm'd, 
With selfish care avoid a brother's woe. 
What shall he do ? His once so vivid serves, 
So full of buoyant spirit, now no more 
Inspire the course ; but fainting breathless toil, 
Sick, seizes on his heart : he stands at bay ; 
And puts his last weak refuge in despair. 
The big round tears run down his dapple face : 
He groans in anguish ; while the growling pack, 

j Blood happy, hang at his fair jutting chest, 
And mark his beauteous checker'd sides with gore. 



154 AUTUMN. 

Of this enough. But if the sylvan youth, 
Whose fervent blood boils into violence. 
Must have the chase ; behold, despising flight, 
The rous'd-up lion, resolute, and slow, 
Advancing full on the protended spear, 
And coward -band, that circling wheel aloof. 
Slunk from the cavern, and the troubled wood, 
See the grim wolf, on him his shaggy foe 
Vindictive fix, and let the ruffian die t 
Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boat 
Grins fell destruction, to the monster's hearfe 
Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm. 

These Britain knows not ; give, ye Britons, then 
Your sportive fury, pityless to pour 
Loose on the nightly robber of the fold : 
Him, from his craggy winding haunts unearth'd, 
Let all the thunder of the chase pursue. 
Throw the broad ditch behind you ; o'er the hedge 
High bound, resistless ; nor the dQtp morass 
Refuse, but thro' the shaking wilderness 
Fick your nice wry ; into the perilous flood 
Bear fearless, of the raging instinct full ; 
And as you ride the torrent, to the banks, 
Your triumph sound sonorous, running round, 
From rock to rock, in circling echoes tost ; 
Then scale the mountains to their woody tops ^ 
Rush down the dangerous steep ; and o'er the lawn, 
In fancy swallowing up the space between* 
Pour all your speed into the rapid game. 
For happy he ! who tops the wheeling chase ; 
Has every maze involv'd, and every guile 



AUTUMN. 155 

Disclosed ; who knows the merits of the pack ; 
Who saw the villain seiz'd, and dying; hard, 
Without complaint, tho' by an hundred mouths 
Relentless torn : O glorious he, beyond 
His daring peers ! when the retreating horn 
Calls them to ghostly halls of grey renown, 
With woodland honours grac'd : the fox's fur, 
Depending decent from the roof ; and spread 
Round the drear walls, with antic figures fierce, 
The stag's large front ; he then is loudest heard? 
When the night staggers with severer toils? 
With feats Thessalian Centaurs never knew, 
And their repeated wonders shake the dome. 

But first the fuel'd chimney blazes wide ; 
The tankards foam ; and the strong table groans 
Beneath the smoaking sirloin, stretcYd immense 
From side to side ; in which, wi ate knife, 

They deep incision make, a: he while 

Of England's glory, ne'er to 3d 

While hence they borrow vigour 1 or amain 
Into the pasty plung'd, at intervals, 
If stomach keen can intervals allow, 
Relating all the glories of the chase. 
Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst 
Produce the mighty bowl ; the mighty bowl, 
\ Swell'd high with fiery juice, steams liberal roun4 
A potent gale, delicious as the breath 
Of Maia to the love-sick shepherdess, 
On violets diffus'd, while soft she hears 
Her panting shepherd stealing to her arms. 
Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn, 






15* AUTUMN, 

Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat 
Of thirty years : and now his honest front 
Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid 
Even with the vineyard's best produce to vie. 
To cheat the thirsty moments, whist a while 
Walks his dull round 1 beneath a cloud of smoke, 
Wreath'd, fragrant, from the pipe ; or the quick dice 
In thunder leaping from the box, awake 
The sounding gammon : while romp-loving miss 
Is haui'd about, in gallantry robust. , 
At last these puling idlenesses aid 
Aside, frequent and full, the dry divan 
Close in firm circle ; and set, ardent, in 
For serious drinking. Nor evasion sly, 
Nor sober shift is to the puking wretch 
Indulg'd apart ; but earnest, brimming bowls 
Lave every soul, the table flc\ :nd, 

And pavement, faithless to the fuddled foot. 
Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk, 
Vociferous at once from twenty tongues, 
Reels fast from theme to theme ; from horses, hounds, 
T® church or mistress, politics or ghost, 
In endless mazes, intricate, perplex'd. 
Meantime, with sudden interruption, loud, 
Th' impatient catch bursts from the joyous heart ; 
That moment touch'd is every kindred soul ; 
And opening in a full-mouthed Cry of joy, 
The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse go round : 
While, from their slumbers shook, the kennei'd 

hounds 
Mix in the music of the day again* 






AUTUMN. 157 

As when the tempest, that has vex'd the deep 
The dark night long, with fainter murmurs falls : 
So gradual sinks their mirth. Their feeble tongues.) 
Unable to take up the cumbrous word, 
Lie quite dissolved. Before their maudlin eyes, 
Seen dim, and blue, the double tapers dance, 
Like the sun wading through the misty sky. 
Then, sliding soft, they drop. ConfusM above, 
Glasses and bottles., pipes, and gazeteers, 
As if the table even itself was drunk, 
Lie a wet broken scene ; and wide, below, 
Is heap'd the social slaughter : where astride 
The lubber Power in filthy triumph sits, 
Slumbrous, inclining still from side to side. 
And steeps them drench'd in potent sleep till morn, 
Perhaps some doctor, of tremendous paunch, 
Awful and deep, a black abyss of drink 3 
Outlives them all ; and from his bury'd flocl^ 
Retiring, full of rumination sad, 
Laments the weakness of these latter times. 
But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport 
Is hurried wild, let not such horrid joy 
E'er stain the bosom of the British Fair. 
Far be the spirit of the chase from them ! 
Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skiH ; 
To spring the fence, to rein the prancing steed; 
The cap, the whip, the masculine attire : 
In which they roughen to the sense, and all 
The winning softness of their sex is lost. 
In them 'tis graceful to dissolve at woe ; 
With every motion, every word, to wav# 



158 AUTUMN. 

Quick o'er the kindling cheek the ready blush j 

And from the smallest violence to shrink 

Unequal, then the loveliest in their fears j 

And by this silent adulation, soft, 

To their protection more engaging Man. 

O may their eyes no miserable sight, 

Save weeping lovers, see ! a nobler game, 

Thro' love's enchanting wiles, pursu'd, yet fled, 

In chase ambiguous. May their tender limbs 

Float in the loose simplicity of dress ! 

And, fashion'd all to harmony, alone 

Know they to seize the captivated soul, 

In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips : 

To teach the lute to languish ; with smooth step, 

Disclosing motion in its every charm, 

To swim along, and swell the mazy dance ; 

To train the foliage o'er the snowy lawn ; 

To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page ; 

To lend new flavour to the fruitful year, 

And heighten Nature's dainties : in their race 

To rear their graces into second life ; 

To give society its highest taste ; 

Well-order'd Home Man's best delight to make ; 

And by submissive wisdom, modest skill, 

With every gentle care eluding art, 

To raise the virtues, animate the bliss, 

And sweeten all the toils of human life ; 

This, be the feticide dignity, and praise. 

Ye swains now hasten to the hazel-bank, 
Where, down yon dale, the wildly winding brook 
Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close array 









AUTUMN. \59 



Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, 
Ye virgins come. For you their latest song 
The woodlands raise ; the clustering nuts for you 
The lover finds amid the secret. shade : 
And where they burnish on the topmost bough, 
With active vigour crushes down the tree ; 
Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk, 
A glossy shower, and of an ardent brown, 
As are the ringlets of Melinda's hair : 
Melinda! form'd with every grace complete. 
Yet these neglecting, above b'eauty wise'. 
And far transcending such a vulgar praise. 

Hence from the busy joy- re sounding fields, 
In cheerful error, let us tread the maze 
Of Autumn, unconfined ; and taste, reviv'd, 
The breath of orchard big with bending fruit. 
Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, 
From the deep-loaded bough a mellow shower 
Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 
Lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round. 
A various sweetness swells the gentle race, 
By Nature's all-refining hand prepar'd, 
Of tempered sun, and water, earth, and air, 
In ever changing composition mixt. 
Such, falling frequent tho' the chiller night, 
The fragrant stores, the wide-projected heaps 
Of apples, which the lusty-handed year, 
Innumerous, o'er the blushing orchard shakes. 
A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 
Dwells in their gelid pores : and, active points 
The piercing cyder for the thirsty tongue : 



16.0 AUTUMN. 

Thy native theme, and boon inspire r toe, 
Philip's Pomona's bard, the second thou 
Who nobly durst, in rhyme-unfetter'd verse, 
With British freedom sing the British song : 
How, from Silurian vats, high-sparkling wines 
Foam in transparent floods ; some strong to cheer 
The wintry revels of the labouring hind : 
And tasteful some, to cool the summer hours. 

In this glad season, while his sweetest beams 
The sun sheds equal o'er the meekened day ; 
Oh lose me in the green delightful walks 
Of Dodington, thy seat, serene and plain ; 
Where simple Nature reigns ; and every vievr> 
r Diflusive, spreads the pure Dorsetian downs, 
In boundless prospect ; yonder shagg'd with wood, 
Here rich with harvest, and there white with flocks I 
Meantime the grandeur of thy lofty dome, 
Far splendid, seizes on the ravish'd eye. 
New beauties rise with each revolving day ; 
New columns swell \ and still the fresh Spring finds 
New plants to quicken, and new groves to green. 
Full of thy genius all ! the Muses' seat: 
Where in the secret bower, and winding walk, 
For virtuous Young and thee they twine the bay. 
Here wandering oft, fir'd with the restless thirst 
Of thy applause, I solitary court 
Th' inspiring breeze ; and meditate the book 
Of Nature, ever open ; aiming thence, 
Warm from the heart, to learn the moral song. 
Here as I steal along the sunny wall, 
Where Autumn basks, with fruit irnpurpled deep, 



AUTUMN. 161 

My pleasing theme continual prompts my thought : 

Presents the downy peach ; the shining plum ; 

The ruddy, fragrant nectarine ; and dark, 

Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig. 

The vine too here her curling tendrils shoots, 

Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south, 

And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky. 

Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight 

To vigorous soils, and climes of fair extent ; 

Where, by the potent sun elated high, 

The vineyard swells refulgent on the day ; 

Spreads o'er the vale., or up the mountain climbs, 

Profuse, and drinks amid the sunny rocks, 

From cliff to cliff encreas'd the heightened blaze. 

Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters clear, 

Half thro' the foliage ceen, or ardent flame, 

Or chine transparent ; while perfection breathes 

White o'er the t urgent filrrfihe living dew, 

As thus they brighten with exalted juice, 

Touch'd into flavour by the mingling ray ; 

The rural youth and virgins o'er the field, 

Each fond for each to cull th' autumnal prime, 

Exulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh. 

Then comes the crushing swain ; the country floats. 

And foams unbounded with the mashy flood ; 

That by degrees fermented, and refin'd, 

Round the rais'd nations pours the cup of joy ; 

The claret smooth, red as the lip we press, 

In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl* 

The mellow tasted burgundy, and quick, 

As is the wit it gives, the gay champaign, 

v o 2 



16S AUTUMN; 

Now, by the cool declining year condensed* 
Descend the copious exhalations, check'd 
As up the middle sky unseen they stole, 
And roll the doubling fogs around the hill. 
No more the mountain, horrid, vast, sublime, 
Who pours a sweep of rivers from his sides, 
And high between contending kingdoms rears 
The rocky long division, fills the view 
With great variety ; but in a night 
Of gathering vapour from the baffled sense 
Ginks dark and dreary. Thence expanding far, 
The huge dusk, gradual, swallows up the plain ; 
Vanish the woods ; the dim -seen river seems 
Sullen, and slow, to roll the misty wave. 
Even in the heighth of noon opprest, the sun 
Sheds weak, and blunt, his wide-refracted ray ; 
Whence glaring oft, with many a broadened orb* 
He frights the nations., Q , Indistinct on earth, 
Seen thro' the turbid air, beyond the life, 
Objects appear ; and wilder'd, o'er the waste 
The shepherd stalks gigantic. Till at last 
^Vreath'd dun around, in deeper circles still 
Successive closing, sits the general fog 
Unbounded o'er the world ; and, mingling thick, 
A formless grey confusion covers all. 
As when of old (so sung the Hebrew Bard) 
Light, uncollected, thro' the chaos ur$'d 
Its infant way ; nor order yet had drawn 
His lovely. train from out the dubious gloom. 

These roving mists, that constant now begia 
To smoke along the hilly country, these> 



AUTUMN. 16* 

With weighty rains, and melted Alpine snows 
The mountains cisterns fill, those ample stores 
Of water scoop'd among the hollow rocks ; 
Whence gush the streams, the ceaseless fountains- 

play, 
And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 
Some sages say, that where the numerous wav$ 
For ever lashes the resounding shore, 
Driil'd thro' the sandy stratum, every way, 
The waters with the sandy stratum rise * 
Aniid whose angles infinitely strain'd, 
They joyful leave their jaggy salts behind, 
And clear and sweeten, as they soak along ; 
Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still, 
Though oft amidst th 9 irriguous vale it springs ; 
But to the mountain courted by the sand, 
That leads it darkling on in faithful maze, 
Far from the parent-main, it boils again 
Fresh into day ; and all the glittering hill 
Is bright with spouting rills. But hence this vaia 
Amusive dream ! why should the waters love 
To take so far a journey to the hills, 
When the sweet valleys offer to their toil 
Inviting quiet, and a nearer bed I 
Or if, by blind ambition led astray^ 
They must aspire ; why should they sudden stop 
Among the broken mountain's rushy dells, 
And, ere they gain its highest peak, desert 
Th' attractive sand that charm'd their course so lon^; ? 

o 

Besides, the hard agglomerating salts, 
The spoil of ages, would impervious choak 



164 AUTUMN. 

Their secret channels ; or by slow degrees, 
High as the hills protrude the swelling vales ; 
Old ocean too, suck'd thro* the porous globe, 
• Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed, 
And brought Deucalion's wat'ry times again. 

Say then, where lurk the vast eternal springs, 
That like creating nature, lie conceal'd 
From mortal eye, yet with their lavish stores 
Refresh the globe, and all its joyous tribes ? 
O thou pervading Genius, given to Man, 
To trace the secrets of the dark abyss, 
O lay the mountains bare ! and wide display 
Their hidden structure toth* astonish'd view ! 
Strip from the branching Alps their piny load ; 
The huge incumbrance of horrific woods 
From Asian Taurus, from Imaus stretch'd 
Athwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds 1 
Give opening Hemus to my searching eye, 
And high Olympus pouring many a stream I 
O from the founding summits of the north, 
The Dofrme hills, thro' Scandinavia roli'd 
To farthest Lapland and the frozen main ; 
From lofty Caucasus, far seen by those 
Who in the Caspian and black Euxine toil ; 
From cold Riphean rocks, which the wild Rus& 
Relieves the *stony girdle of the world ; 
And all the dreadful mountains wrapt in storm, 
Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely floods ; 

* 1 he Muscovites call the Riphean mountains Weliki Came- 
nypoys, that is, the great stony Girdle : because they suppose 
them to encompass the whole earth. 




AUTUMN. .165 

sweep th' eternal snows ! Hung o'er the deep, 
That ever works beneath his sounding base, 

Bid Atlas, propping heaven, as Poets feign, 
His subterranean wonders spread ! unveil 
The miny caverns, blazing on the day, 
Of Abyssinia's cloud-compelling cliffs, 
And of the bending * Mountains of the moon ! 
O'ertopping all these giant-sons of earth, 
Let the dire Andes? from the radiant Line 
Stretch 'd to the stormy seas that thunder round 
The southern pole, their hideous deeps unfold ! 
Amazing scene ! Behold the glooms disclose, 

1 see the rivers in their infant beds ! 

Deep, deep I hear them labouring to get free I 
I see the leaning strata, artful rang'd; 
The gaping fissures to receive the rains, 
The melting snows, and ever dripping fogs 
Strew'd bibulous above I see the sands, 
The pebbly gravel next, the layers then 
Of mingled moulds, of more retentive earths, 
The gutter'd rocks and mazy running clefts ; 
That while the stealing moisture they transmit, 
Retard its motion, and forbid its waste. 
Beneath the incessant weeping of these drains, 
I see the rocky siphons stretch'd immense, 
The mighty reservoirs of harden'd chalk, 
Or stiff compacted clay, capacious form'd. 
O'erflowing thence the congregated store* 

* A range of mountains in Africa, that surround almost all 
Monomotapa. 



166 AUTUMN. 

The crystal treasures of the liquid world, 
Thro' the stirr'd sands a bubbling passage burst ; 
And welling out, around the middle steep, 
Or from the bottoms of the bosom'd hills, 
In pure effusion flow. United, thus, 
Th' exhaling sun, the vapour-burden'd air, 
The gelid mountains, that to rain condens'd 
These vapours in continual current draw, 
And send them, o'er the fair-divided earth. 
In bounteous rivers to the deep again, 
A social commerce hold, and firm support 
The full adjusted harmony of things. 

When Autumn scatters his departing gleam*, 
Warn'd of approaching Winter, gathered, play 
The swallow people ; and toss'd wide around, 
O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift, 
The feathered eddy floats : rejoicing once, 
Ere to their wintry slumbers they retire ; 
In clusters clung, beneath the mould'ring bank, 
And where unpierc'd by frost, the cavern sweats, 
Or rather into warmer climes convey'd, 
With other kindred birds of season, there 
They twitter chearful, till the vernal months 
Invite them welcome back, for thronging now 
Innumerous wings are in commotion all. 

Where the Rhine loses his majestic force 
In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep, 
By diligence amazing, and the strong 
Unconquerable hand of Liberty, 
The stork-assembly meets ; for many a day, 
Consulting deep, and various ere they take 




I 



AUTUMN. 167 

Their arduous voyage thro' the liquid sky. 

And now their rout design'd, their leaders chose, 

Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous wings ; 

And many a circle, many a short essay, 

Wheel'd round and round, in congregation full 

The figured flight ascends ; and, riding high 

The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds. *■ 

Or where the Northern ocean, in vast whirls, 
Boils round the naked melancholy isles 
Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge 
Pours in among the stormy Hebrides ; 
Who can recount what transmigrations there 
Are annual made ? what nations come-and go ? 
And how the living clouds on clouds arise ; 
Infir/^e wings ! till all the plume-dark air, 
And rude resounding shore are one wild cry. 

Here the plain, harmless native^, his small flock : 
And herd diminutive, of many hues, 
Tends on the little island's verdant swell, 
The shepherd's sea-girt reign : or, to the rocks 
Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food ; 
Or sweeps the fishy shore ; or treasures up 
The plumage, rising full, to form the bed 
Of luxury. And here a while the Muse, 
High-hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene, 
Sees Caledonia, in romantic view ; 
Her airy mountains, from the waving main, 
Invested with a keen diffusive sky, 
Breathing the soul acute : her forests huge, 
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand 
Planted of old ; her azure lakes between^ 



168 AUTUMN. 

Pour'd out extensive, and of wat'ry wealth 

Full ; winding deep, and green her fertile vales ; 

With many a cool translucent brimming flood 

Wash'd lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent stream? 

Whose pastoral banks first heard my Doric reed, 

With silvan Jed, thy tributary brook) 

To where the north inflated tempest foams 

O'er Orca's or Betubium's highest peak : 

Nurse of a people in misfortune's school 

Train'd up to hardy deeds ; soon visited 

By Learning, when before the Gothic rage 

She took her western flight. A manly race, 

Of unsubmitting spirit, wise and brave ; 

Who still thro' bleeding ages struggled hard, 

(As well unhappy Wallace can attest, 

Great patriot hero ! ill requited chief !) 

To hold a generous undiminish'd state ; 

Too much in vain ! Hence of unequal bounds ; 

Impatient j and by tempting glory borne 

O'er every la;rJ, lor every land their life 

Has fiow'd profuse, their piercing genius planned 

And swell'd the pomp of peace their faithful toil. 

As from their own clear north, in radiant streams, 

Bright over Europe bursts the Boreal Morn. 

Oh is there not some patriot, in whose power 
That best, that god-like Luxury is placed, 
Qf blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn* 
Thro' late posterity ? some, large of soul, 
To cheer dejected industry ? to give 
A double harvest to the pining swain ? 
And teach the labouring hand the sweets of toil ? 



AUTUMN. 169 

How, by the finest art, the native robe 

To weave ; how, white as hyperborean snow, 

To form the lucid lawn ; with venturous oar 

How to dash wide the billow ; nor look on, 

Shamefully passive, while Batavian fleets, 

Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms, 

That heave our friths, and crowd upon our shores ; 

How all-enlivening trade to rouse, and wing 

The prosperous sail, from every growing port, 

IJninjur'd, round the sea-incircled globe ; 

And thus, in soul united as in name, 

Bid Britain reign the mistress of the deep ? 

Yes, there are such. And full on thee, Argyle, 
Her hope, her stay, her darling, and her boast, 
From her first patriots and her heroes sprung,. 
Thy fond imploring country turns her eye ; 
In thee, with all a mother's triumph, sees 
Her every virtue, every grace cornbin'd. 
Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn, 
Her pride of honour, and her courage try'd, 
Calm, and intrepid, in the very throat 
Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's, dreadful field. 
Nor less the palm of peace inwreathes thy brow : 
For, powerful as thy sword, from thy rich tongue 
Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate x 
While mix'd in thee combine the charm of youth, 
The force of manhood, and the depth of age. 
Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends, 
As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind,, 
Thee, truly generous, and in silence great, 
Thy. country feels thro 5 her reviving, arts, 



t70 AUTUMN. . 

Plann'd by thy wisdom, by thy soul inform'd ; 
And seldom has she known a friend like thee. 

But see the fadiftg many-colour'd woods, 
Shade deepening over shade, the country round 
Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, dusk and dun, 
Of every hue, from wan declining green 
To sooty dark. These now the lonesome Muse, 
Low whispering, lead into their leaf-strown walks, 
And give the season in its latest view. 

Meantime, light shadowing all, a sober calm 
Fleeces unbounded ether ; whose least wave 
Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn 
The gentle current : while illumin'd wide, 
The dewy skirted clouds imbibe the sun, 
And thro' their lucid veil his soften'd force 
Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the.time, 
For those whom wisdom and whom Nature charm? 
To steal themselves from the degenerate crowd. 
And soar above this little scene of things ; 
To tread low-thoughted vice beneath their feet \ 
To soothe the throbbing passions into peace ; 
And woo lone Quiet in her silent walks. 

Thus solitary, and in pensive guise, 
Oft let me wander o'er the russet mead, 
And thro' the sadden'd grove, where scarce is heard 
One dying strain, to cheer the woodman's toil. 
Haply some widowed songster pours his plaint, 
Far, in faint warblings, thro' the tawny copse. 
While congregated thrushes, linnets, iarks, 
And each wild throat, whose artless strains so late 
SwelFd all the music of the swarming shades, 





- 



AUTUMN. in 

Robb'd of their tuneful souls, now shivering sit 
On the dead tree, a dull despondent flock ; 
With not a brightness waving o'er their plumes, 
And nought save chattering discord in their note. 
O let not aim'd from some inhuman eye. 
The gun the music of the coming year 
Destroy ; and harmless, unsuspecting harm, 
Lay the weak tribes a miserable prey, 
In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground ! 

The pale descending year, yet pleasing sail, 
A gentler mood inspires ; for now the leaf 
Incessant rustles from the mournful grove ; 
Oft startling such as, studious, walk below, 
And slowly circles thro' the waving air. 
But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs 
Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams ; 
Till choak'd, and matted with the dreary shower, 
The forest-walks, at every rising gale, 
Roll wide the wither'd waste, and whistle bleak. 
Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields ; 
And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race 
Their sunny rcbes resign. Even what remain'd 
Of stronger fruits falls frc :! tree ; 

And woods, fields, garde . all around 

desolated prospect thrills the soul. 

He comes ! he comes ! in every breeze the Power 
Of Philosophic Melancholy comes ! 
His near approach the sudden -starting tear, 
The glowing cheek, the mild dejected air, 
The softened feature, and the beating heart, 
Pierc'ddeep with many a virtuous pang, declare. 



in AUTUMN. 

O'er all the soul his sacred influence breathes I 

Inflames imagination : thro* the breast 

Infuses every tenderness ; and far 

Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought. 

Ten thousand thousand fleet ideas, such 

As never mingled with the vulgar dream. 

Crowd fast into the mind's creative eye. 

As fast the correspondent passions rise, 

As varied, and as high : Devotion rais'd 

To rapture, and divine astonishment ; 

The love of Nature unconfin'd, and, chief; 

Of human race ; the large ambitious wish, 

To make them blest ; the sigh for suffering worth,, 

Lost in obscurity ; the noble scorn 

Of tyrant pride ; the fearless great resolve ; 

The wonder which the dying patriot draws, 

Inspiring glory thro' remotest time ; 

Th' awaken'd throb for virtue, and for fame ; 

The sympathies of love, and friendship dear ; 

With all the social offspring of the heart. 

Oh bear me then to vast embowering shades,- 
To twilight groves, and visionary vales ; 
To weeping grottoes and prophetic glooms ; 
Where angel forms athwart the solemn dusk* 
Tremendous sweep, or seem to sweep along ; 
And voices more than human, thro' the void 
Deep sounding, seize th' enthusiastic ear ! 

Or is this gloom too much ? Then lead, ye powers, 
That o'er the garden and th® rural seat 
Preside, which shining thro' the cheerful land 
In countless numbers blest Britannia sees ; 







AUTUMN. 17$ 

O lead me to the wide extended walks, 

The fair majestic paradise of Stowe* ! 

Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's shore 

E'er saw such silvan scenes ; such various art 

By genius fir'd, such ardent genius tam'd 

By cool judicious art ; that, in the strife, 

All-beauteous Nature fears to be outdone. 

And there, O Pitt, thy country's early boasts 

There let me sit beneath the sheltered slopes, 

Or in that i'Temple where, in future times, 

Thou well shalt merit a distinguished name ; 

And, with thy converse blest, catch the last smiles 

Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods. 

While there with thee th' inchanted round I walk, 

The regulated wild, gay Fancy then 

Will tread in thought the groves of Attic Lands 

Will from thy standard taste refine her own, 

Correct her pencil to the purest truth 

Of Nature, or, the unimpassion'd shades 

Forsaking, raise it to the human mind. 

Or if hereafter she, with juster hand, 

Shall draw the tragic scene, instruct her thou, 

To mark the varied movements of the heart, 

What every decent character requires, 

And every passion speaks : O thro' her strain 

Breathe thy pathetic eloquence! that moulds 

Th' attentive senate, charms, persuades, exalts, 

Of honest zeal th' indignant lightning throws, 

* The seat of the Lord Viscount Cobham. 

•^ The temple of Virtue in Stowe Gardens. 
P 2 



1*4 AUTUMN. 

And shakes corruption on her venal throne. 
While thus we talk, and thro' Elysian Vales 
Delighted rove, perhaps a sigh escapes ; 
What pity? Cobhani, thou thy verdant files 
Of ordered trees shouldsthere inglorious, range, 
Instead of squadrons flaming' o'er the field, 
And long-embattled hosts ! when the proud foe, 
The faithless vain disturber of mankind, 
Insulting Gaul, has rous'd the world to war ; 
When keen, once more, within their bounds to press 
Those polish'd robbers, those ambitious slaves, 
The British Youth would hail thy wise command, 
Thy temper'd ardor and thy veteran skill. 

The western sun withdraws the shortened day ;.- 
And humid evening, gliding o'er the sky, 
In her chill progress, to the ground condens'd 
The vapour throws. Where creeping waters ooz©> 
Where marshes stagnate, and where rivers wind,. 
Cluster the rolling fogs, and swim along. 
The dusky mantled lawn. Meanwhile the moon, 
Pull-orb'd, and breaking thro' the scatter'd clouds,. 
Shews her broad visage in the crimson'd east. 
Turn'd to the sun direct, her spotted disk, 
Where mountains rise, umbrageous dales descend* 
And caverns deep, as optic tube descries, 
A smaller earth, gives us his blaze again, 
Void of its flame, and sheds a softer day. 
Now thro' the passing cloud she seems to stoop, 
• Now up the pure cerulean rides sublime. 
Wide the pale deluge floats, and streaming mild 
O'er the sky'd mountain to the shadowy vale> 



Z©> 



AUTUMN. BT* 

While rocks and floods reflect the quivering gleam,. 
The whole air whitens with a boundless tide 
Of silver radiance, trembling round the world.. 

But when half-blotted from the sky her light, 
Fainting, permits the starry fires to burn 
With keener lustre thro' the depth of heaven ; 
Or near extinct her deadened orb appears, 
And scarce appears, of sickly beamless white ; 
Oft in this season, silent from the north 
A blaze of meteors shoot : ensweeping first 
The lower skies, they all at once converge 
High to the crown of heaven, and all at once 
Relapsing quick, as quickly re-ascend, 
And mix, and thwart, extinguish, and renew, 
All ether coursing in a maze of light. 

From look to look, contagious thro' the crowd, 
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes 
Th' appearance throws: Armies in meet array, 
Throng'cl with aerial spears, and steeds of fire ; 
Till the long lines of full extended war. 
In bleeding fight commixt, the sanguine flood 
Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heavea. 
As thus they scan the visionary scene, 
•On all sides swells the superstitious din, 
Incontinent ; and busy frenzy talks 
Of blood and battle ; cities . overturned, 
And late at night in swallowing earthquake sunk* 
Or hideous wrapt in fierce ascending flame ; 
Of sallow amine, inundation, storm ; 
Of pestilence, and every great distress ; 
Empires subvers'd, when ruling fate has struck k 



176 AUTUMN. 

The unalterable hour ; Even Nature's self 
Is deem'd to totter on the brink of time. 
Not so the man of philosophic eye, 
And inspect sage ; the waving brightness he 
Curious surveys, inquisitive to know 
The causes, and materials yet uniix'd, 
Of this appearance beautiful and new. 

Now black, and deep, the night begins to fall, 
A shade immense. Sunk in the quenching gloom i 
Magnificent and vast, arc heaven and earth. 
Order confounded lies ; all beauty void ; 
"Distinction lost ; and gay variety 
One universal blot ; such the fair power 
Of light, to kindle and create the whole. 
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch, 
Who then, bewilder'd, wanders thro' the dark* 
Full of pale fancies, and chimeras huge ; 
Nor visited by one directive ray, 
From cottage streaming, or from airy hall. 
Perhaps impatient as he stumbles on, 
Struck from the root of slimy rushes, blue, 
The wild lire scatters round, or gather'd trails 
A length of flame deceitful o'er the moss : 
Whither decoy'd by the fantastic blaze, 
Now lost and now renew'd, he sinks absorpt, 
Eider and horse, amid the miry gulph : 
While still, from day to day, his pining wife, 
And plaintive children his return await, 
In wild conjecture lost. At other times, 
Sent by the better Genius of the night, 
Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane, 



AUTUMN. 177 

The meteor sits ; and shews the narrow path, 
That winding leads thro* pits of death, or else 
Instructs him how to take the dangerous ford. 

The lengthened night elaps'd, the morning shines, 
Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright, 
Unfolding fair the last autumnal day. 
And now the mounting sun dispels the fog ; 
The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam ; 
And hung on every spray, on every blade 
Of glass, the myriad dew drops twinkle round. 

Ah see where robb'd, and fnurder'd, in that pit 
Lies the still heaving hive ! at evening snatch'd, 
Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, 
And fix'd o'er sulphur : while, not dreaming ill, 1 
The happy people, in their waxen cells, 
Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 
Of temperance, for Winter poor ; rejoiced 
To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores. 
<gudden the dark oppressive steam ascends ; 
And, us'd to milder scents, the tender race, 
By thousands, tumble from their honey'd domes* 
Convolv'd, and agonizing in the dust. 
And was it then for this you roam'd the Spring, 
Intent from flower to flower ? for this you toil'd 
Ceaseless the burning rammer-heats away ? 
For this in Autumn searched the blooming waste* 
Nor lost Giie sunny gleam I for this sad fate ? 
O man ! tyrannic lord ! how long, how long, 
-Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rag^ 
Awaiting renovation ? When obliged, 
Must you destroy ! Of their ambrosial fooi 







178 AUTUMN. 

Can you not borrow ; and, in just return, 

Afford them shelter from the wintry winds : 

Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own 

Again regale them on some smiling day ? 

See where the stony bottom of their town 

Looks desolate and wild ; with here and there 

A helpless number, who the ruin'd state 

Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death. 

Thus a proud city, populous and rich, 

Full of the works of peace, and high in joy, . 

At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep, 

(As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seiz'd 

By some dread earthquake, and convulsive hurl'd 

Sheer from the black foundation, stench-involv'd, 

Into a gulph of blue sulphureous flame. 

Hence every harsher sight ; for now the day, 
O'er heav'n and earth diifus'd, grows warm and high, 
Infinite splendor ! wide investing all. 
How still the breeze ! save what the filmy threads 
Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain. 
How clear the cloudless sky ! how deeply ting'd 
With a peculiar blue ! the ethereal arch 
How sweli'd immense ! amid whose azure thron'd 
The radiant sun how gay ! how calm below 
The gilded earth ! the harvest treasures all 
Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of storms, 
Sure to the swain; the circling fence shut up ; 
And instant Winter's utmost rage defy'd. r 

While loose to festive joy, the country round 
Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth, 
Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth 



AUTUMN. 179 

By the quick sense of music taught alone, 
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. 
Her every charm abroad, the village-toast, 
Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 
Darts not unmeaning looks ; and, where her eye 
Points an approving smile, with double force, 
The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines. 
Age too shines out ; and, garrulous, recounts 
The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice ; nor think 
That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil 
Begins again the never ceasing round. 

Oh knew he but his happiness, of Men 
The happiest he ! who far from public rage, 
Deep in the vale, with a choice few retir'd, 
Drinks the pure pleasures of the Rural Life. 
What tho' the dome be wanting, whose proud gate, 
Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd 
Of flatterers false, and in their turn abus'd ? 
Vile intercourse ! What tho* the glittering robe. 
Of every hue reflected light can give, 
Or floating loose, or stiff with massy gold, 
The pride and gaze of fools ! oppress him not ? 
What tho' from utmost land and sea purveyed, 
For him each rarer tributary life 
Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps 
With luxury, and death ? What tho 9 his bowl 
Flames not with costly juice ; nor sunk in beds. 
Oft of gay care, he tosses out the night, 
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state ? 
What tho' he knows not those fantastic joys, 
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive ; 



180 Autumn. 

A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain ; 

Their hollow moments undelighted all ? 

Sure peace is his ; a solid life, estrang'd 

To disappointment, and fallacious hope : 

Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, 

In herds and fruits ; whatever greens the Spring, 

When heaven descends in showers ; or bends the 

bough, 
When Summer reddens, and when Autumn beams ; 
Or in the Wintry glebe whatever lies 
Conceai'd, and fattens with the richest sap : 
These are not wanting ; nor the milky drove, 
Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing \ ale ; 
Nor bleating mountains ; nor the chide of streams, 
And hum of bees, inviting sleep sincere 
Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade, 
Or thrown at krge amid the fragrant hay *, 
Nor ought besides of prospect, grove or song, 
Dim grottoes, gleaming lakes, and fountain clear. 
Here too dwells simple truth ; plain innocence j 
Unsullied beauty ; sound unbroken youth, 
Patient of labour, with a little pleas'd ; 
Health ever blooming ; unambitious toil ; 
Calm contemplation, and poetic ease. 

Let others brave the flood in quest of gain, 
And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy wave. 
Let such as deem it glory to destroy, 
Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek ; 
Unpieic'd, exulting in the widow's wail, 
The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling cry- 
Let some, far distant from their native soil, 





AUTUMN, t»l 

Urg*d or by want or hardened avarice. 

Find other lands beneath another sun, v 

Let this through cides work his eager way* 

By legal outrage and establish'd guile, 

The social sense extinct ; and that ferment 

Mad into tumult the seditious herd, 

Or melt them down to slavery. Let these 

Insnare the wretched in. the toils of law, 

Fomenting discord, and perplexing right * 

An iron race ! and those of fairer front, 

But equal inhumanity, in courts, 

Delusive pomp, and dark cabals, delight ; 

Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying smile* 

And tread the weary labyrinth of state. 

While he, from all the stormy passions free 

That restless Men involve, hears, and but hears. 

At distance safe, the human tempest roar, 

Wrapt close in conscious peace. The fall of kings* 

The rage of nations, and the crush of states. 

Move not the Man, who, from the world escaped 

In still retreats, and flowery solitudes, 

To Nature's voice attends, from month to month* 

And day to day, thro' the revolving year-; 

Admiring, sees her in her every shape ; 

Feels all her sweet emotions at his heart ; 

Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more* 

He, when young Spring protrudes the bursting gems* 

Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale 

Into his freshened soul ; her genial hours 

He full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows, 

And not an opening blossom breathes in vaira. 



. 1S2 AUTUMN. 

In summer he, beneath the living shade, 

Such as o'er frigid Tempe wont to wave, 

Or Hemus cool, reads what the Muse, oftheae 

Perhaps, has in immortal numbers sung ; 

Or what she dictates writes : and, oft an eye 

Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. 

When Autumn's' yellow lustre gilds the world, 

And tempts the sickled swain into the field, 

Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart distends 

With gentle throws ; and, thro' the tepid gleams 

Deep musing, then he best exerts his song. 

Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss. 

The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste, 

Abrupt, and deep, stretch'd o'er the buried earth, 

Awake to solemn thought. At night the skies^ 

Disclos'd, and kindled, by refining frost, 

Pour every lustre on the exalted eye. 

A friend, a bock the stealing hours secure, 

And mark them down for wisdom* With swift wing, 

Q'er land and sea imagination roams; 

Or truth, divinely-breaking on his mind, 

Elates his being, and unfolds his powers ; 

Or in his breast heroic virtue burns. 

The touch of kindred too and love he feels ; 

The modest eye, whose beams on his alone 

Extatic shine ; the little strong embrace 

Of prattling children, twin'd around his neck, 

And emulous to please him, calling forth 

The fond parental soul. Nor purpose g?ji 

Amusement, dance, or song, he sternly scorns ; 

for happiness and true philosophy 



AUTUMN.. 1S3 

Are .erf the social still, and smiling kind. 

This is the life which those who fret in guilt, 

And guilty cities, never knew : the life, 

Led hy primeval ages, uncorrupt, 

When angels dwelt, and God himself, with Man ! 

Oh Nature! all-sufficient 1 overall ! 
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ! 
Snatch me to heaven ; thy rolling wonders there, 
World beyond woild, in infinite extent, 
Frofusely scattered u'«;r the blue immense, 
Shew me; their motions, periods, and their laws, 
Give me to scan ; through the disclosing deep 
Light my blind way ; the mineral strata there ; 
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world ; 
O'er that the rising system, more complex, 
Of animals ; and higher still, the mind, 
The varied scene of quick-compounded thought, 
And where the mixing passions endless shift ; 
These ever open to my ravish'd eye ; 
A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust ! 
But if to that unequal ; if the blood, 
In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid 
That best ambition ! under closing shades, 
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook, 
And whisper to my dreams. From Thee begin, 
Dwell all on Thee, with Thee conclude my song ; 
And let me never, never stray from The* i 



WINTER 



II 



q 2 



THE ARGUMENT. 

The subject proposed. ...Address to the Earl of Wilming-. 
ton... .Fir st afifiroach of Winter.. .. According to the na- 
tural course of the season, various storms described.... 
Rain. ...Wind. ...Snow. ...The driving of the snows : A 
man perishing among them ; whence refections on the 
wants and miseries of human life.... The wolves des^ 
c en ding from the Alfis and Afifitnnines....A winter 
evening described : as spent by philosophers ; by the 
country people ; in the city*. ..Frost. ...A view of Win- 
ter within the Polar Circle.... A thaw.... The whote 
concluding with moral refections on a future state \ 






WINTER, 



SEE Winter comes, to rule the varied year* 
Sullen and sad, with all his rising train ; 
Vapours, and Clouds, and Storms. Be these myv 

theme, 
These ! that exalt the soul to solemn thought, 
And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms £ 
Congenial horrors, hail ! with frequent foot, 
Pleas'd have I, in my cheerful mom of life. 
When nurs'd by careless solitude I liv'd, 
And sung of Nature with unceasing joy, 
Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain j 
Trod the pure virgin snows, myself as pure ; 
Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burst ; 
Or seen the deep fermenting tempest brew'd, 
In the grim evening sky. Thus pass'd the time* 
Till thro' the lucid chambers of the south 
Look'd out the joyous Spring, look'd out, and smil'd, 

To thee, the patron of her first essay, 
The Muse, O Wilmington ! renews her song. 
Since has she rounded the revolving year : 
Skim'd the gay Spring ; on eagle pinions borne, 
Attempted thro' the Summer-blaze to rise j 



188 WINTER. 

Theft swept o'er Autumn with the shadowy gale ; 
And now among the wintry clouds again, 
RolPd in the doubling storm, she tries to soar ; 
To swell her note, with all the rushing winds ; 
To suit her sounding cadence to the floods ; 
As is her theme, her numbers wildly great : 
Thrice happy ! could she fill thy judging ear 
With bold description, and with manly thought. 
Nor art thou skili'd in awful schemes alone, 
And how to make a mighty people thrive : 
But equal goodness, sound integrity* 
A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted soul 
Amid a sliding age, and burning strong* 
Not vainly blazing for thy country" s weal, 
A steady spirit regularly free ; 
These, each exalting each* the statesman light 
Into the patriot ; these, the public hope 
And eye to thee converting, bid the Muse 
Record what envy dares not flattery call. 

Now when the cheerless empire of the sky 
To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields, 
And fierce Aquarius, stains th' inverted year ; 
Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sun 
Scarce spreads thro' ether the dejected day 
Faint are his gleams, and ineffectu?.! shoot 
His struggling rays, in horizontal lines, 
Thro 5 the thick air ; as cioath'd in cloudy storm, 
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky ; 
And, soon-descending, to the long dark night, 
Wide shading all, the prostrate world resigns. 
Nor is the night unwsh'cl ; while vital hcat» 



1 






winter. mm 

Light, life, and joy, the dubious day forsake. 
Meantime, in sable cincture, shadows vast, 
Deep-tin g'cl and damp, and congregated clouds, 
And all the vapoury turbulence of heaven, 
Involve the face of things. Thus Winter falls, 
A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world, 
Thro 5 Nature shedding influence malign, 
And rouses up the seeds of dark disease. 
The soul of Man dies in him, loathing life, 
And black with more than melancholy views. 
The cattle droop ; and o'er the furrowed land, 
Fresh from the plough, the dun discoloured flocks*, 
Untended spreading, crop the wholesome root. 
Along the woods, along the moorish fens, 
Sighs the sad Genius of the coming storm ; 
And up among the loose disjointed cliffs, 
And fractur'd mountains wild, the brawling broofe 
And cave, presageful, send a hollow moan, 
Resounding long in listening Fancy's ear. 

Then comes the father of the tempest forth, 
Wrapt in black glooms. First joyless rains obscure, 
Drive thro 5 the mingling skies with vapour foul ; 
Dash on the mountain's brow, and shake the woods* 
That grumbling wave below. The unsightly plain. 
Lies a brown deluge ; as the low-bent clouds 
Pour flood on flood, yet unexhausted still 
Combine, and deepening into night shut up 
The day's fair face. The wanderers of heaven,. 
Each to his home, retire ; save those that love 
To take their pastime in the troubled air, 
Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool*.. 







too winter; 

The cattle from the untested fields return, 

And ask, with meaning lew, their wonted stalls,- 

Or ruminate in the contiguous shade. 

Thither the houshold feathery people crowd, 

The crested cock, with all his female train, 

Pensive, and dripping ; while the cottage-hind 

Hangs e'er the enlivening blaze, and taleful ther 

Recounts his simple frolic : much he talks, 

And much he laughs, nor recks the storm that blows 

Without, and rattles on his humble roof. 

Wide o'er the brim, with many a torrent swell'dr 
And the mix'd ruin of its banks o*erspread > 
At last the rous'd-up river pours along : 
Resistless, roaring, dreadful, down it comes, 
From the rude mountain, and the mossy wfid^ 
Tumbling thro 5 rocks abrupt, and sounding far ; 
Then o'er the sanded valley floating spreads, 
Calm, sluggish, silent ; till again, constraint 
Between two meeting hills, it bursts away, 
Where rocks and woods o'erhang the turbid strea 
There gathering triple force> rapid, and deep, 
It boils^ and w 7 heels, and foams, and thunders through- 

Nature 1 great parent ! wdiose unceasing hand 
Rolls round the Seasons of the changeful year, 
How mighty, how majestic, are thy works ! 
With what a pleasing dread they swell the soul ! 
That sees astonish'd ! and astonish'd sings ! 
Ye too ye winds ! that now begin to blow, 
With boisterous sweep, I raise my voice to you. 
Where are your stores, ye powerful beings ! say,. 
Where your aerial magazines reserv'd, 



WINTER. 191 

To swell the brooding terrors of the storm ? 

In what far distant region of the sky, 

Hvish'd in deep silence, sleep ye when 'tis calm '? 

When from the pallid sky the sun descends, 
With many a spot, that o'er his glaring orb 
Uncertain wanders, stain'd ; red fiery streaks 
Begin to flush around. The reeling clouds 
Stagger with dizzy poise, as doubting yet 
Which master to obey : while rising slow, 
Blank, in the leaden-colpur'd east, the moon 
Wears a wan circle round her blunted horns. 
Seen thro* the turbid fluctuating air, 
The stars obtuse emit; a shivered ray ; 
Or frequent seem b : [thwart the gloom, 
And long behind the trail ihe whiteniag blaze. 
SnatcH'd in short s, plays the witherVI leaf; 

And on the flood the dancing feather floats. 
With broadened nostrils to the sky up-turn'd, 
The conscious heifer snciffi the stormy gale. 
Even as the matron, at her nightly task. 
With pen ' labour draws the flaxen thread, 
The wasted t ckiing flame 

Foretel the blast. Eat chief the plumy race, 
The tenants of the sky, its changes speaks 
Retiring from the downs, where all day long 
They pick'd their scanty fare, *a blackening train 
Qf clamorous rooks thick urge their weary night, 
And seek the closing shelter of the grove ; 
Assiduous, in his bower, the wailing owl 
Plies his sad song. The cormorant on high 
Wheel? from the deep? and screams along the land. 



192 WINTER. 

Loud shrieks the soaring hern : and with wild wing 

The circling sea-fowl cleave the flaky clouds. 

Ocean, unequal press'd, with broken tide 

And blind commotion heaves ; while from the shore? 

Eat into caverns by the restless wave* 

And forest-rustling mountain, comes a voice, 

That solemn sounding bids the world prepare* 

Then issues forth the storm with sudden burst, 

And hurls the whole precipitated air, 

Dow 7 n, in a torrent. On the passive main 

Descends th 3 etherial force, and with strong gust 

Turns from its bottom the discoiour'd deep. 

Thro 5 the black night that sits immense around, - 

Lash'd into foam, the fierce conflicting brine 

Seema o'er a thousand raging waves to burn : 

Meantime the mountain billows, to the clouds 

In dreadful tumult sweli'd, surge above surge, 

Burst into chaos with tremendous roar, 

And anchor'd navies from their stations drive, 

Wild as the winds across the howling waste 

Of mighty waters : now the inflated wave 

Straining they scale, and now impetuous shoot 

Into the secret chambers of the deep, 

The wintry Baltic thundering o'er their head. 

Emerging thence again, before the breath 

Of full exerted heaven they wing their course, 

And dart on distant coasts ; if some sharp rock, 

Or shoal insiduous break not their career, 

And in loose fragments fling them floating round. 

Nor less at land the loosened tempest reigns. 
The mountain thunders ; and its siurdy sons 



WINTER. IDS 

Stoop to the bottom of the rocks they shade. 
Lone on the midnight steep, and all aghast, 
The dark way-faring stranger breathless toils-,* 
And, often falling, climbs against the blast. 
Low waves the rooted forest, vex'd, and sheds 
What of its tarnish'd honours yet remain ; 
Dash'd down, and scatter'd, by the tearing wind's 
Assiduous fury, its gigantic limbs. 
Thus struggling thro' the dissipated grove,' 
The whirling tempest raves along the plain ; 
And on the cottage thatch'd, or lordly roof, 
Keen-fastening, shakes them to the solid base» 
Sleep frighted flies ; and round the rocking dome.. 
For entrance eager, howls the savage blast. 
Then too, they say, thro' all the burthen'd air, 
Long groans are heard, shrill sounds, and distant 

sighs, 
That, uttered by the Demon of the nigh^ 
Warn the devoted wretch of woe aud death. 

Huge uproar lords it wide. The clouds commbcd 
With stars swift gliding sweep along the sky. 
.All nature reels. Till Nature's King, who eft 
Amid tempestuous darkness dwells alone, 
A,nd on the wings of the careering wind 
Walks dreadfully serene, commands a calm; 
'Then straight air, sea, and earth are hush'd at once,- 

As yet 'tis midnight deep. The weary clouds,. 
Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloom. 
Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleepy 
L,et me associate with the serious Nfght, 
And Contemplation her sedate compeer ; 




If* WINTER. 

Let me shake off th' intrusive cares of day, 
And lay the meddling senses all aside. 

Where now, ye lying vanities of life ! 
Ye ever-tempting, ever-cheating train ! 
Where are you now ? and what is your amount ? 
Vexation, disappointment, and remorse. 
Sad, sickening thought ! and yet deluded Man, 
A scene of crude disjointed visions past, 
And broken slumbers, rises still resolv'cl, 
With newrflush'd hopes, to run the giddy rounds 

Father of light and life ! thou Good supreme .! 
teach me what is good ! teach me Thyself] 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 
From every low pursuit ! and feed my soul 
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue-pCtr^ 
Sacred, substantial, never fading bliss S 

The keener tempests rise : and fuming dun 
From all the livid east, or piercing north, 
Thick clouds ascend ; in whose capacious womfr 
A vapoury deluge lies, to snow congeal'd. 
Heavy they roll their ileecy world along ; 
And the sky saddens with the gathered storm. 
Thro' the hush'd air the whitening shower descends* 
At first thin wavering ; 'fill at last the flakes 
Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the day* 
With a continual flow. The cherish'd fields 
Put on their winter robe of purest white. 
'Tis brightness aSLj save where the new snow melts 
Along the mazy current. Low the woods 
Bow their hoar head ; and, ere the languid sum 
F«int from the west emits his everiing ray A 



tfk 






WINTER. 0ts 

Earth's universal face, deep hid, and chill, 

Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide 

The works of Man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 

Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands 

The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, 

Tam'd by the cruel season, crowd around 

The winnowing store, and claim the little boon 

Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 

The red-breast, sacred to the houshold gods, 

Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky, 

In joyless fields, and thorny thickets, leaves 

His shivering mates, and pays to trusted Man 

His annual visit. Half-afraid, he first 

Against the window beats ; then, brisk, alights 

On the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the floor, 

Eyes all the smiling family askance, 

And packs, and starts, and wonders where he is : 

'Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 

Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds 

Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, 

Tho' timorous of heart, and hard besM 

By death in various forms, dark snares, and do^s, 

And more unpitying Men, the garden seeks, 

Urg'd on by fearless want. "The bleating kind 

Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth, 

With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad dispers'd, 

Dig for the withered herb thro' heaps of snow. 

Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind, 
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 
With food at will ; -lodge them below the storm, 
And watch them strict^: for from the bellowing §ast 



196 WINTER. 

In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing* 
Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains: 
At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, . 
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills, 
The billowy tempest whelms ; 'till, upward urg'd* 
The valley to a shining mountain swells, 
Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the sky. 

As thus the snows arise ; and foul, and fierce^ 
-All Winter drives along the darkened air; 
In Ids own loose -revolving fields, the swain. 
Bisaster'd stands, sees other hills ascend, 
Of unknown joyless brow ; and other scenes, 
Of horrid prospect, shag the trackless plain: 
Nor finds the river, nor the forest, hid 
Beneath the formless wild ; but wanders on 
From hill to dale, still more andmore astray ; 
Impatient flouncing thro' the drifted heaps, 
Stung with the thoughts of home ; the thoughts of home 
Rush on his nerves, and call their vigour forth 
In many a vain attempt. How sinks his soul! 
What black despair, what horror fills his heart ! 
When for the dusky spot, which fancy feign'd 
*His tufted cottage rising thro' the snow, 
He meets the roughness of the middle waste, 
Far from the track, and blest abode of Man > 
While round him night resistless closes fast, 
And every tempest, howling o'er his head, 
Renders the savage wilderness more wild. 
Then throng the busy shapes into his mind, ' 
Of cover'd pits, unfathomably deep, 
A dire descent ! beyond the power of frost, 






I 



WINTER. 197' 

Of faithless bogs ; of precipices huge, 

Smooth'd up with snow ; and, what is land, unknown, 

What water, of the still unfrozen spring 

In the loose marsh or solitary lake, 

Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils. 

These check his fearful steps ; and down he sinks 

Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift, 

Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, 

Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shoots* - 

Thro' the wrung bosom of the dying Man, 

His wife, his children, and his friends unseen. 

In vain for him th' officious wife prepares 

The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm; 

In vain his little children, peeping out 

Into tne mingling storm, demand their sire 3 - 

With tears of artless innocence, Alas ! 

Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold, 

Nor friends, nor sacred home. On every nerve 

The deadly winter seizes ; shuts up sense ; 

And, o'er his inmost vitals creeping cold, 

Lays him along the snows, a stiffened corse, 

Stretch'd out, and bleaching in the northern blast, 

Ah little think the gay licentious proud, 

Whom pleasure, power, and afHuence surround - r 

They, who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth^ 

And wanton, often cruel, riot waste ; 

Ah little think they, while they dance along, 

How many feel, this very moment, death 

And all the sad variety of pain. 

How many sink in the devouring flood, 

Or mere devouring flame. How many bleed* '. 

j^2 



198 WINTER. 

By shameful variance betwixt 'Man and Man. 

How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms j 

Shut from the common air, and commoause 

Of their own limbs. Plow many drink the cup>. 

Of baleful arief, or eat the bitter bread 

Of misery. Sole pierc'd by wintry winds,. 

How many shrink into the sordid hut 

Of cheerless poverty. How many shake 

With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 

Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse; 

Whence tumbled headlong from the height of lif 

They furnish matter for the tragic Muse. 

Even in the vale, where wisdom loves to dwells 

With friendship, peace, and contemplation join'd, 

How many, rack'd with honest passions, droop 

In deep retir'd distress. How many stand 

Around the death-bed of their dearest friends, 

And point the parting anguish.. Thought fond Mai* -v. 

Of these, and all the thousand nameless ills, 

That one incessant struggle render life, 

One scene of toil, of suffering, and of fate,. 

Vice in his high career would stand appall'dy 

And heedless rambling impulse learn to think; 

The conscious heart of Charity would warm, 

And her wide wish Benevolence dilate ; 

The social tear would rise, the social sigh ; 

And into cle?tr perfection, gradual bliss, 

Refining still, the social passions work. 

And here can I forget the generous *bandy < 
Who, touch'd with human woe, redressive search'd , 
* The Jail Committee, in the Year 1729.. . 




WINTER'. 199 

Into the horrors of the gloomy jail? 

Unpitied, and unheard, where misery moans ; 

Where sickness pines ; where thirst and hunger burn^ 

And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice. 

While in the land of liberty, the land 

Whose every street and public meeting glow 

With open freedom, little tyrant^ rag'd ; 

Snatch'd the lean morsel from the starving mouth 5 . 

Tore from cold wintry limbs the tatter'd weed ; 

Even robb'd them of the last of comforts, sleep ; ; 

The free-born Briton to the dungeon chain'd, 

Or, as the lust of cruelty prevaii'd, 

At pleasure mark'd him with inglorious stripes ; 

And crush'd out lives, by secret barbarous ways, 

That for their country would have toil'd, or bled. 

O great design ! if executed well, 

With patient care, and wisdom-tempered zeaL 

Ye sons of mercy I yet resume the search ; 

Drag forth the legal monsters into light, 

Wrench from their hands oppression's iron rod, 

And bid the cruel feel the pains they give. 

Much still untouch'd remains ; in this rank age, ; 

Much is the patriot's weeding hand requir'd, 

The toils of law, (what dark insidious Men 

Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, 

And lengthen simple justice into trade) 

How glorious were the day ! that saw these broken, 

And every Man within the reach of right. 

By wintry famine rous'd, from all the tract 
Of horrid mountains which the shining Alps, 
And wavy Appennines and Pyrenees 



" 



200 WINTER. 

Branch out stupendous into distant lands" j 
Gruel as death, and hungry as the grave ! 
Burning for blood ! bony, and ghaunt, and grim t 
Assembling wolves in raging troops descend ; 
And, pouring o'er the country, bear along, 
Keen as the north-wind sweeps the glossy snow. 
All is their prize. They fasten on the steed, 
Press him to §arth, and pierce his mighty hear 
Nor can the bull his awful front defend, 
Or shake the murdering savages away. 
Rapacious, at the mother's" throat they fly, 
And tear the screaming infant from her breast. 
The godlike face of Man avails him nought. 
Even beauty, force divine 1 at whose bright gla 
The generous lion stands in softened gaze, 
Here bleeds, a hapless undistinguish'd prey. 
But if, appriz'd of the severe attack, 
The country be shut up, lur'd by the scent, 
On church-yards drear (inhuman to relate !) 
The disappointed prowlers fall, and dig 
The shrouded body from the grave ; o'er which, 
Mix'd with foul shades, and frighted ghosts, they 
howl. 
Among those hilly regions, where embrac'd 
In peaceful vales the happy Grisons dwell ; 
Oft, rushing sudden from the loaded cliffs, 
Mountains of snow their gathering terrors roll. 
From steep to steep, loud thundering down they coirtej 
A wintry waste in dire commotion all ; 
And herds, and flocks, and travellers, and swains, 
And sometimes whole brigades. o€ marching troops^ 




WINTER. 2<Tt 

Or Hamlets sleeping in the dead of night, 

Are deep beneath the smothering ruin whelm'dr 

Now, rill amid the rigours of the year, 
In the wild depth of Winter, while without 
The ceaseless, winds blow ice, be my retreat* 
Between the groaning forest and the shore 
Beat by the boundless multitude of waves, 
A rural, sheltered, solitary, scene ; 
Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join, 
To cheer the gloom. There studious let me sit, 
And hold high converse with the mighty dead ; 
Sages of ancient time, as gods rever'd, 
As gods beneficent, who blest mankind 
With arts, with arms, and humanized a world. 
Rous'd at the inspiring thought, I throw aside 
The long-lived volume ; and deep-musing, hail 
The sacred shades, that slowly rising pass 
Before my wondering eyes. First Socrates, 
Who, firmly good in a corrupted state, 
Against the rage of tyrants single stood, 
Invincible 1 calm Reason's holy law, 
That Voice of God within th 5 attentive mind, 
Obeying, fearless, or in life, or death: 
Great moral teacher ! Wisest of Mankind ! 
Solon the next, who built his common-weal 
On equity's wide base ; by tender Laws 
A lively people curbing, yet undamp'd 
Preserving still that quick peculiar fire, 
Whence in the laurei'd field of finer arts, 
And of bold freedom, they une'quali'd shone, 
The pride of smiling Greece, and human-kind. „ 







202* WINTER.. 

Lycurgus then, who bow'd beneath the force" 

Of strictest discipline severely wise, 

All human passions. Following him, I see, 

As at Thermopylae he glorious fell, 

The firm ^devoted Chief, who prov'd by deeds 

The hardest lesson which the other taught* 

Then Aristides lifts his honest front ; 

Spotless of heart, to whom th* unflattering voice 7 

Of freedom gave the noblest name of Just ; 

In pure majestic poverty rever'd ; 

Who, even his glory to his country's weal 

Submitting, swelFd a haughty fRivaTs fame 

Rear'd by his care, of softer ray appears 

Cimon sweet-soul'd ; whose genius, rising strongs 

Shook off the load of young debauch ; abroad 

The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friends 

Of every worth and every splendid art * r , 

Modest, and simple, in the pomp of wealth. 

Then the last worthies of declining Greece, 

Late call'd to glory, in unequal times, 

Pensive appear. The fair Corinthian boast, 

Timoleon, happy temper ! mild, and firm, 

Who wept the Brother, while the Tyrant bled ; 

And, equal to the best, the JTheban Pair, 

Whose virtues, in heroic concord join'd, 

Their country rais'd to freedom, empire, fame. 

He too, with whom Athenian honour sunk, 

^nd left a mass of sordid lees behind, 

♦Leonidas. -f TliQmistoctefcr . 

J Pelopidas and Epaminondas*- 




WINTER. 201 

Fhocion the Good ; hi public life severe, 
To virtue still inexorably firm ; 
But when, beneath his low illustrious rcof, 
Sweet peace and happy wisdom smooth 'd his brow, 
Not friendship softer was, nor love more kind. 
And he, the last of old Lycurgus 3 sons, 
The generous victim to that vain attempt, 
To save a rotten state, Agis, who saw 
Even Sparta's self to servile avarice sunk. 
The two Achaian heroes close the train, 
Aratus, who a while relum'd the soul 
Of fondly lingering liberty in Greece : 
And he her darling as her latest hope, 
The gallant Philopoemen ; who to arms 
Turn'd the luxurious pomp he could not cure f 
Or toiling in his farm* a simple swain ; 
Or, bold and skilful, thundering in the field. 
Of rougher front, a mighty people came ! 
,A race of heroes ! in those virtuous times 
Which kttew no stain, save that with partial flame 
Their dearest country they too fondly lov'd ; 
<Her better Founder first, the light of Rome, 
Numa, who soften* d her rapacious sons : 
Servius the king, who laid the solid base 
On which o'er eartjti the vast republic spread. 
Then the great consuls venerable rise. 
The ^Public Father, vho the Private queJPd, 
As on the dread tribunal sternly sad. 
He, whom his thankless country could not lo*^ 

* Marcus Junius Brutus. 



*2D4 



WINTER. 



Camillas, only vengeful to her foes. 
Fabricius, scorner of all-conquering gold ; 
And Cincinnatus, awful from the plough. 
Thy fwihing victim, Carthage, bursting loose 
From all that pleading Nature could oppose., 
From a whole city's tears, by rigid faith 
Imperious call'd, and honour's dire command. 
Sclpio, the gentle chief, humanely brave, 
Who soon the race of spotless glory ran, 
And, warm in youth, to the Poetic shade 
With Friendship and Philosophy retir'd- 
Tully, whose powerful eloquence a while 
Hestrain'd the rapid fate of rushing Rome. 
Unconquer'd Cato, virtuous in extreme. 
And thou, unhappy Brutus, kind of heart, 
Whose steady arm, by awful virtue urg'd, 
Lifted the Roman steel against thy Friend. 
Thousands besides the tribute of a verse 
Demand ; but who can count the stars of heaven ? 
Who sing their influence on this lower world ? 
Behold, who yonder comes ! in sober state, 
Fair, mild, and strong, as is a vernal sun : 
*Tis Phoebus' self, or else the Mantuan Swain JL 
Great Homer too appears, of daring wing, 
Parent of song ! and equal by his side, 
The British Muse ; join'd hand in hand they walk, 
Darkling, full up the middle steep to fame. 
Nor absent are those shades, whose' skilful touch 
Pathetic drew th' impassion'd heart, and charm'd 

f Regulus. 



WINTER. 203 

Transported Athens with the moral scene : 

Nor those who, tuneful, wak'd th' enchanting lyre. 

First of your kind ! society divine ! 
Still visit thus my nights, for you reserv'd, 
And mount my soaring soul to thoughts like yours. 
Silence, thou lonely power ! the door be thine ; 
See on the hallowed hour that none intrude, 
Save a few chosen friends, who sometimes deiga 
To bless my humble roof, with sense refin'd, 
Learning digested well, exalted faith, 
Unstudy'd wit, and humor ever gay. 
Or from the Muses' hill will Pope descend, 
To raise the sacred hour, to bid it smile, 
And with the social spirit warm the heart : 
For tho' not sweeter his ow T n Komer sings ? 
Yet is his life the more endearing song. 

Where art thou, Hammond ? thou the darling 
pride, 
The friend and lover of the tuneful throng I 
Ah why, dear youth, in all the blooming prime 
Of vernal genius, where disclosing fast 
Each active worth, each manly virtue lay, 
Why wert thou ravish'd from our hope so soon ? 
What now ava : ls that noble thirst of fame, 
Which stung thy fervent breast ! that treasur'd store 
Of knowledge, early gain'd ? that eager zeal 
To serve thy country, glowing in the band 
Of youthful Patriots, who sustain her name ? 
What now, alas ! that life-diffusing charm 
Of sprightly wit ? that rapture for the Muse, 
That heart of friendship, and that soul of joy, 



506 WINTER. 

Which bade with softest light thy virtues smile ? 
Ah ! only shew'd to check our fond pursuits, 
And teach our humbled hopes that life is vain ! 

Thus in some deep retirement would I pass 
The winter glooms, with friends of pliant soul, 
Or blythe, or solemn, as the theme inspired : 
With them would search, if Nature's boundless frame 
Was cail'd, late rising from the void of night, 
Or sprung eternal from th' eternal Mind ; 
Its life, its laws, its progress, and its end. 
Hence larger prospects of the beauteous whole 
Would, gradual, open on our opening minds ; 
And each diffusive harmony unite 
In full perfection to th' astonish'd eye. 
Then would we try to scan the moral World, 
Which, tho' to us it seems embroil'd, moves on 
In higher order ; fitted and impell'd, 
By Wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all 
In general Good. The sage historic Muse 
Should next conduct us thro' the deeps of time r 
Shew us how empire grew, deciin'd and fell, 
In scatter'd states ; what makes the nations smile, 
Improves their soil,* and gives them double suns ; 
And :vhy they pine beneath the brightest skies, 
In Nature's richest lap. As thus we talk'd, 
Our hearts would burn within us, would inhale 
That portion of divinity, that ray 
Of purest heaven, which lights the public soul 
Of patriots, and of heroes. But if doom'd, 
In powerless humble fortune, to repress 
These ardent, risings of the kindling soul ; 



WINTER. 207 

Then, even superior to ambition, we 

Would learn the private virtues ; how to glide 

Thro' shades and plains, along the smoothest stream 

Of rural life ; or snatch 7 d away by hope, 

Thro' the dim spaces of futurity, 

With earnest eye anticipate those scenes 

Of happiness, and wonder ; where the mind, 

In endless growth, and infinite ascent, 

Rises from state to state, and world to world. 

But when with these the serious thought is foilVi, 

We, shifting for relief, would play the shapes 

Of frolic fancy ; and incessant form 

Those rapid pictures, that assembled train 

Of fleet ideas, never join'd before, 

Whence lively Wit excites to gay surprize ; 

Or folly-painting Humour, grave himself, 

Calls daughter forth, deep-shaking every nerve. 

Meantime the village rouses up the fire ; 
While well attested and as well belie v'd, 
Heard solemn, goes the goblin-story round ; 
Till superstitious horror creeps o'er all. 
Or, frequent in the sounding hall they wake 
The rural gambol. Rustic mirth goes round ; 
The simple joke that takes the shepherd's heart, 
Easily pleas'd, the long loud laugh, sincere ; 
The kiss, snatch'd hasty from the side long maid, 
On purpose guardless, or pretending sleep : 
The leap, the slap, the haul : and, shook to notes 
Of native music, the respondent dance. 
Thus jocund fleets with them the winter night. 



SOS WINTER. 

The city swarms intense. The public haunt, 
Full of each theme* and warm with mixt discourse, 
Hums indistinct. The sons of riot flow 
Down the loose stream of false inchanted joy> 
To swift destruction. On the rankled soul 
The gaming fury falls ; and in one gulph 
Of total ruin, honour, virtue, peace, 
Friends, families, and fortune, headlong sink. 
Up springs the dance along the lighted dome, 
Mix'd and evolv'd, a thousand sprightly ways. 
The glittering court effuses every pomp ; 
The circle deepens : beam'd from gaudy robes, 
Tapers and sparkling gems, and radiant eyes, 
A soft effulgence o'er the palace waves ; 
While, a gay insect in his summer shine, 
The fop, light-fluttering, spreads his mealy wings. 

Dread o'er the scene, the ghost of Hamlet stalks ; 
Othello rages ; poor Monimia mourns i 
And Belvidera pours her soul in love. 
Terror alarms the breast ; the comely tear 
Steals o'er the cheek ; or else the jComic Muse 
Holds to the world a picture of itself, 
And raises sly the fair impartial laugh. 
Sometimes she lifts her strain, and paints the scenes 
Of beauteous life ; whate'er can deck mankind, 
Or charm the heart, in generous *Bevil shew'd. 

O Thou, whose wisdom, solid yet refm'd, 
Whose patriot virtues, and consummate skill 
To touch the finer springs that move the world, 

* A charter in the Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Ri 
chard Steel©. 






WINTER. 20 9 

Join'd to whate'er the Graces can bestow, 
And all Apollo's animating fire, 
Give thee, with pleasing dignity, to shine 
At once the guardian, ornament, and joy, 
Of polish'd life ; permit the Rural Muse, 
O Chesterfield, to grace with thee her song 1 
Ere to the shades again she humbly flies, 
Indulge her fond ambition, in thy train, 
(For every Muse has in thy train a place) 
To mark thy various full-accomplish'd mind : 
To mark that spirit, which, with British scorn y 
Rejects th' allurements of corrupted power ; 
That elegant politeness, which excels, 
Even in the judgment of presumptuous France, 
The boasted manners of her shining court j 
That wit, the vivid energy of sense, 
The truth of Nature, which, with Attic point, 
And kind well-temper'd satire, smoothly keen, 
Steals thro' the soul, and without pain corrects. 
Or, rising thence with yet a brighter flame, 
O let me hail thee on some glorious day, 
When to the listening senate, ardent, crowd 
Britannia's sons to hear her pleaded cause. 
Then drest by thee, more amiably fair, 
Truth the soft robe of mild persuasion wears ; 
Thou to assenting reason giv'st again 
Her own enlighten'd thoughts ; call'd from the heart/ 
Th' obedient passions on thy voice; attend ; 
And even reluctant party feels a while 
Thy gracious power ; as thro' the varied maze 

s 2 



210 



WINTEIL 



Of eloquence, now smooth, now quick, now strong, 
Profound and clear, you roll the copious flood. 

To thy lov'd haunt return, my happy Muse : 
For now, behold, the joyous, winter-days, 
Frosty, succeed : and thro' tl:e blue serene, 
For sight too fine, the ethereal nitre flies i 
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air 
Storing afresh with elemental life. 
Close crowds the shining atmosphere ; and binds> 
Our strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace, 
Constringent; feeds, and animates our blood; 
Refines our spirits, thro' the new-strung nerves, 
In swifter sallies darting to the brain : 
Where sits the soul intense, collected, cool, 
Bright as the skies, and as the season keen, 
All Nature feels the renovating force 
Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye 
In ruin seen. The frost concocted glebe 
Draws in abundant vegetable soul, 
And gathers vigour for the coming year. 
A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek 
Of ruddy fire ; and luculent along 
The purer rivers flow : their sullen deeps, 
Transparent, open to the shepherd's gaze, 
And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost. 

What art thou, frost ? and whence are thy keen 
stores 
Deriv'd, thou secret all invading power, 
Whom even th 3 illusive fluid cannot fly ? 
Is not thy potent energy, unseen, 
Myriads of little salts, or hook'd, or shaped 



WINTER. 2.M. 

Like double wedges, and diffus'd immense 
Thro' water, earth, and ether ? Hence at eve, 
Steam'd eager from the red horizon round, 
With the fierce rage of Winter deep suffus'd, 
And icy gale, oft shifting, o'er the pool 
Breathes a blue film, and in its mid career 
Arrests the bickering stream. The loosen'd ice. 
Let down the flood, and half dissolved by day, 
Rustles no more ; but to the sedgy bank 
Fast grows, or gathers round the pointed stone, 
A crystal pavement, by the breath of heaven 
Cemented firm ; till, seiz'd from shore to shore. 
The whole imprison'd river growls below. 
Loud rings the frozen earth, and hard reflects 
- A double noise ; while at his evening watch, 
The village dog deters the nightly thief y 
The heifer lows ; the distant water-fall 
Swells in the breeze ; and, with the hasty tread 
Of traveller, the hollow-sounding plain 
Shakes from afar. The full ethereal round, 
Infinite worlds disclosing to the view, 
Shines out intensely keen ; and, all one cope 
Gf starry glitter, glows from pole to pole. 
From pole to pole the rigid influence falls, 
Thro' the still night, incessant, heavy, strong, 
And seizes Nature fast. It freezes on ; 
Till morn, late rising o'er the drooping world, 
Lifts her pale eye unjoyous. Then appears 
The various labour of the silent night : 
Prone from the dripping cave, and dumb cascade* 
Whose idle torrents only seem to roar, 



2 12 WINTER. 

The pendant icicle ; the frost-work fair, 
Where transient hues, and fancy'd figures rise ; 
Wide-spoutecfo'er the hill, the frozen brook, 
A livjd tract, cold gleaming on the morn ; 
The forest bent beneath the plumy wave ; 
And by the frost reim'd the whiter snow, 
Incrusted hard, and sounding to the tread 
Of early shepherd, as he pensive seeks 
His pining flock, or from the mountain top, 
Pleas'd with the slippery surface, swift descends. 
On blithsome frolics bent, the youthful swams, 
While every work of Man is laid at rest, 
Fond o'er the river crowd, in various sport 
And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad, 
Happiest of all the train ! the raptur'd boy 
Lashes the whirling top. Or, where the Rhine 
Branch'd out in many a long canal extends, 
From every province swarming, void of care, 
Batavia rushes forth : and as they sweep, 
On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, 
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 
The then gay land is maddened all to joy. 
Nor less the northern courts, wide o'er the snow, 
Pour a new pomp. Eager, on rapid sleds, 
Their vigorous youth in bold contention wheel ^ 
The long resounding course. Meantime, to raise 
The manly strife, with highly blooming charms, 
Flush'd by the season, Scandinavia's dames. 
Or Russia's buxom daughters glow around. 

Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day I 
But soon elaps'd. Th« horizontal sun, 



ams, 





WINTER. 2K 

Broad o'er the south, hangs at his utmost noon ; 
And, ineffectual, strikes the gelid cliff : 
His azure gloss the mountain still maintains, 
Nor feels the feeble touch. Perhaps the vale 
Relents a while to the reflected ray ; 
Or from the forest falls the cluster'd snowy 
Myriads of gems, that in the waving gleam 
Gay twinkle as they scatter. Thick around 
Thunders the sport of those, who with the gun, 
And dog impatient bounding at the shot, 
Worse, than the season, desolate the fields ; 
And, adding to the ruins of the year, 
Distress the footed or the feathered game. 

But what is this ? Our infant Winter sinks, 
Divested of his grandeur, should our eye 
Astonish'd shoot into the Frigid Zone ; 
Where, for relentless months, continual night 
Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign. 

There, thro' the prison of unbounded wilds, 
Barr'd by the hand of Nature from escape, 
Wide -roams the Russian exile. Nought around 
Strikes his sad eye, but desarts lost in snow ; 
And heavy loaded groves ; and solid floods, 
That stretch athwart the solitary vast, 
Their icy horrors to the frozen main - r 
And cheerless towns far distant, never bless'd, 
Save when its annual course the caravan 
Bends to the golden- coast of rich *Cathay, 
With news of human kind. Yet there life glows ; 
i Yet cherish'd there, beneath the shining waste, 
* The old name for China. 



214 WINTER. 

The furry nations harbour ; tipt with jet, 
Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press ; 
Sables of glossy black ; and dark embrown'd, 
Or beauteous freakt with many a mingled hue, 
Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts. 
There, warm together press'd the trooping deer 
Sleep on the new fallen snows : and, scarce his head 
Rais'd o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk 
Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. 
The ruthless hunter wants nor dogs nor toils, 
Nor with the dread of sounding bows he drives 
The fearful flying race ; with ponderous clubs, 
As weak against the mountain-heaps they push 
Their beating breast in vain, and piteous bray, 
He lays them quivering on th 5 ensanguined snows, 
And with loud shouts rejoicing bears them home. 
There thro' the piny forest half absorpt, 
Rough tenant of these shades, the shapeless bear, 
With dangling ice all horrid, stalks forlorn ; 
Slow pac'd, and sourer as the storms increase, 
He makes his bed beneath th' inclement drift, 
And, with stern patience, scorning weak complaint, 
Hardens his heart against assailing want. 

Wide o'er the spacious regions of the north, 
That see Bootes urge his tardy wain, 
A boisterous race, by frosty *Caurus pierc'd, 
Who little pleasure know and fear no pain, 
Prolific swarm. They once relurn'd the flame 
Of lost mankind in polish'd slavery sunk, 

* The North West Wind. 



; 



WINTER. 515 

Drove martial *horde on horde, with dreadful sweep 
Resistless rushing o'er th' enfeebled south, 
And gave the vanquished world another form. 
Not such the sons of Lapland ; wisely they 
Despise th' insensate barbarous trade of war ; 
They ask no more than simple Nature gives,. 
They love their mountains and enjoy their storms. 
No false desires, no pride-created wants, 
Disturb the peaceful current of their time ; 
And thro' the restless ever-tortur'd maze 
Of pleasure, or ambition, bid it rage. 
Their rein-deer form their riches. These their tents, 
Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 
Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups. 
Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe 
Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 
O'er hill and dale, heap'd into one expanse 
Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sw r eep 
With a blue crust of ice unbounded glaz'd. 
By dancing meteors then, that ceaseless shake 
A waving blaze refracted o'er the heavens, 
And vivid moons, and stars that keener play 
With doubled lustre from the glossy waste, 
Even in the depth of Polar night, they find 
A wondrous day : enough to light the chase, 
Or guide their daring steps to Finland fairs, 
Wish'd Spring returns ; and from the hazy south} 
While dim Aurora slowly moves before, 
The welcome sun, just verging up at first, 
By small degrees extends the swelling curve ! 
*The wandering Scythian Clans. 



2U WINTER. 

Till seen at last for gay rejoicing months, 

Still round and round, his spiral course he winds, 

And as he nearly dips his flaming orb, 

Wheels up again, and re-nscends the sky. 

In that glad season, from the lakes and floods, 

Where pure *Niemi*s fairy mountains rise, 

And fring'd with roses fTenglio rolls his stream, 

They draw the copious fry. With these, at eve, 

They cheerful loaded to their tents repair ; 

Where all day long in useful cares employ'd, 

Their kind unblemkh'd wives the fire prepare, 

Thrice happy race ! by poverty secur'd 

From legal plunder and rapacious power : 

In whom fell Interest never yet has Sown 

The seeds of vice ; whose spotless swains ne'er knew 

Injurious deed, nor, blasted by the breath 

Of faithless love : , the:* looming daughters woe. 

Still pressing a, beyond Tornea's lake, 
And Hecla flaming thro' a waste of snow, 

* M. de Maupertius, in his Book on the Figure of the Eartk, 
after having described the beautiful Lake and Mountain of 
Niemi in Lapland, says, — ^From this height we had oppor- 
«« tunity several times to see those vapours rise from the Lake 
«« which the people of the country call Haltios, and which 
" they deem to be the guardian Spirits of the Mountains. — 
«i\Ve had been frighted with stories of Bears that haunted 
" this place, but saw none. It seemed rather a place of re- 
-sort for Fairies and Genii, than Bears." 

-j- The same author observes, — " I was surprised to see 
« upon the banks of this river (the Tenglio) Roses of as lively 
«' a red as any that are in our gardens." 



WINTER. 2 17 

And farthest Greenland, to the pole itself, 
Where, failing gradual, life at length goes oat, 
The Muse expands her solitary flight ; 
And, hovering o'er the wild stupendous scene, 
Beholds new seas beneath ^another sky. 
Thron'd in his palace of cerulean ice, 
Here Winter holds his unrejoicing court ; 
And thro' his airy hall the loud misrule 
Of driving tempest is for ever heard : 
Here the grim tyrant meditates his wrath i 
Here arms his winds with all*subduing frost ; 
Moulds his fierce hail, and treasures up his snows ; 
With which he now oppresses half the globe. 

Thence winding eastward to the Tartar's coast, 
She sweeps the howling margin of the main, 
Where undissolving from the first of time, 
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky ; 
And icy mountains high on mountains pil'd, 
Seem to the shivering sailor from afar, 
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds. 
Projected huge, and horrid, o'er the surge, 
Alps frown on Alps ; or rushing hideous down* 
As if old Chaos was again return'd, 
Wide rend the deep, and shake the solid pole. 
Ocean itself no longer can resist 
The binding fury ; but, in all its rage 
Of tempest taken by the boundless frosty 
Is many a fathom to the bottom chain'd, 
And bid to roar no more : a bleak expanse, 
Shagg'd o'er with wavy rocks, cheerless and voi4 

* The other Hemisphere* 

I* 



■ 



iSiS WINTER. 

Of every life, that from the dreary -months 
Flies conscious southward. Miserable they ! 
Who, here entangled in the gathering ice, 
Take their last look of the descending sun ; 
While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold fros 
The long long night, incumbent o'er their heads. 
Falls horrible* Such was the *Briton's fate. 
As with first prow, (what have not Britons dar'd i) 
He for the passage sought, attempted since 
So much in vain, and seeming to be shut 
By jealous Nature with eternal bars. 
In these fell regions, in Arzina caught^ 
And to the stony deep his idle ship 
Immediate seal'd, he with his hapless crew* 
Each full exerted at his several task, 
Froze into statues ; to the cordage glued 
The sailor, and the pilot to the helm. 

Hard by these shares, where scarce his ..freezing 
stream 
Rolls the wild O by , live the last of Men 4 
And half enlivened by the distant sun, 
That rears and ripens Man, as well as plants, 
Here human Nature wears its rudest form. 
Deep from th© piercing season sunk in caves, 
Here by dull fires, and with unjoyous cheer, 
They waste the tedious gloom. Xmmers'd in furs} 
Doze the gross race. Nor sprightly jest, nor song* 
Nor tenderness they know ; nor aught of life, 
Beyond the kindred bears that stalk without, 

* Sir Hugh Will oughby, sent by Queen Elizabeth to disco- 
ver the Nortb East Passage- 





WINTER. 21* 

Till'morn at length, her roses drooping all, 
Sheds a long twilight brightening o'er their fields, 
And calls the quivered savage to the chace. 
What cannot active government perform, 
New-moulding Man ? Wide stretching from these 

shores^ 
A people savage from remotest tlms, 
A huge neglected empire one, vast mind, 
By Heaven inspired, from Gothic darkness call'd. 
Immortal Peter ! first of monarchs J He 
His stubborn country tam'cl, her rocks, her fens, 
Her floods, her seas, her ill-submitting sons ; 
And while the fierce Barbarian he subdu'd, 
To more exalted soul he rais'd the Man.- 
Ye shades of ancient heroes, ye who toird 
Thro' long successive ages to build up 
A labouring plan of state, behold at once 
The wonder done 'behold the matchless prince ! 
Who left his native thrones where reign'd till then 
A mighty shadow of unreal pc'v^r ; 
Who greatly spurn'd the slothful pomp of courts ; 
And roaming every land, in every port 
His sceptre laid aside, with glorious hand 
Unwearied plying the mechanic tool, 
Gather'd the seeds of trade, of useful arts, 
Of civil wisdom, and of martial skill. 
Charg'd with the stores of Europe home he goes ! 
Then cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste : 
O'er joyless deserts smiles the rural reign ; 
Far-distant flood to flood is social join'd ; 
Th\ astonish'd Enxine hears the Baltic roar ; 



22# WINTER. 

Proud navies ride on seas that never foamM 
With daring keel before ; and armies stretch 
Each way their dazzling files, repressing here 
The frantic Alexander of the North, 
And awing there stern Othman's shrinking sons. 
Sloth flies the land, and Ignorance, and Vice, 
Of old dishonour proud : it glows around, 
Taught by the Royal Hand that rous'd the whole, 
One scene of arts, of arms, of rising trade : 
Tor what his wisdom plann'd, and power enforc'd, 
More potent still, his great example shew'd. 

Muttering, the winds at eve, with blunted point, 
Blow hollow-blustering from the south. Subdued, 
The frost resolves into a trickling thaw. 
Spotted the mountains shine ; loose sleet descends, 
And floods the country round, The rivers swell, 
Of bonds impatient. Sudden from the hills, 
O'er rocks and woods, in broad brown cataracts, 
A thousand snow-fed torrents shoot at once ; 
And, where they rush, the wide resounding plain 
Is l$ft one slimy waste. Those sullen seas, 
That wash'd the un genial pole, will rest no more 
Beneath the shackles of the mighty North 5 
But, rousing all their waves resistless heave. 
And hark ! the lengthening roar continuous runs 
Athwart the rifted deep : at once it bursts, 
And piles a thousand mountains to the clouds. 
Ill fares the bark with trembling wretches charg'd. 
That, tost amid the floating fragments, moors 
Beneath the shelter of an icy isle, 
While night o'erwhelms the sea, and horror looks 



WINTER, 221 

More horrible. Can human force endure 
Th' assembled mischiefs that besiege them round ? 
Heart-gnawing hunger, fainting weariness, 
The roar of winds and waves, the crush of ice, 
Now ceasing, now renewed with louder rage, 
And in dire echoes bellowing round the main. . 
More to embroil the deep, Leviathan 
And his unwieldy train, in dreadful sport, 
Tempest the loosened brine, while thro' the gloom, 
Far, from the bleak inhospitable shore, 
Loading the winds, is. heard the hungry howl 
Of famish'd monsters, there awaiting \vrecks* 
Yet Providence, that ever- waking eye, 
Looks down with pity on the feeble toil 
Of mortals lost to hope, and lights them safe, 
Through all this dreary labyrinth of fate. 

*Tis done ! dread Winter spreads his latest glooms* 
And reigns tremendous e'er the conquer'd year. 
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies ! 
How dumb the tuneful ! Horror wide extends 
His desolate domain. Behold fond Man i 
See here thy pictur'd life ; pass some few years 
Thy flowering Spring, thy Suit over's ardent strength* 
Thy sober Autumn fading into age, 
Afid pale concluding Winter comes at last, 
And shuts the scene. Ah ! whither now are fled; 
Those creams cl greatness ? those unsolid hopes 
Of happiness ? those longings after fame ? 
Those restless cares? those busy ; e.ys l 

Those gay spen t, festive nigh { s ? these veerin g 
Lost between good and ill, thatshar'd th) life I 



22S 



WINTER-. 



All now are vanish 'd ! Virtue sole survives, 

Immortal never-failing friend of Man, 

His guide to happiness on high. And see ! 

'Tis come, the glorious morn ! the second birth 

Of heaven, and earth ! awakening Nature hears 

The new creating word, and starts to life ! 

In every heightened form, from pain and death 

For ever free. The great eternal scheme, 

Involving all, and in a perfect whole 

Uniting, as the prospect wider spreads,. 

To reason's eye refin'd clears up apace. 

Ye vainly wise ! ye blind presumptuous ! now* 

Confounded in the dust, adore that Power, 

And wisdom oft arraign' d : see now the cause* 

Why unassuming worth in secret liv'd, 

And dy'd, neglected : why the good Man's share 

In life was gall and bitterness of soul ; 

Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd 

In starving solitude ; while luxury 

In palaces, lay straining her low thought, 

To form unreal wants ; why heaven-born truth* 

And moderation fair, wore the red marks 

Of superstition's scourge : why licens'd pain* 

That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe, 

Imbittered all our bliss. Ye good distrest L 

Ye noble few 1 who here unbending stand 

Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while* 

And what your bounded view, which only saw 

A little part, deem'd Evil, is no more : 

The storms of Wintry Time will quickly pass ? 

And one unbojunded Spring encircle all. 








A HYMN* 



THESE, as they change, Almighty Father, these* 
Are but the varied God. The rolling year 
Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasmg Spring 
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love. 
Wide flushed the fields ; the softening air is balm $ 
Echo the mountains round ; the forest smiles ; 
And every sense, and every heart is joy. 
Then comes thy glory in the Summer months> 
With li^rht and heat refulgent. Then thy sun 
Shoots full perfection thro* the swelling year : 
And oft thy voice in dreadful thuhdei speaks ; 
And eft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, 
By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales. 
Thy bounty shines in Autumn, unconfin'd, 
And spreads a common feast for all that lives. 
In Winter awful Thou i with clouds and storms 
Around Thee thrown, tempest o*er tempest roird, 
Majestic darkness ! on the whirlwind's wing, 
Riding sublime, Thou bidst the world adore, 
And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. 

Mysterious round ! what skill, what force divine,. 
Deep felt in these appear ! a simple train, 
Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, 
Such beauty and beneficence combin'd ; 
Sh-ad^, unperceW'd, so softening into shade; 



224 A HYMN. 

N And all so forming an harmonious whole ; 
That, as they still succeed, they ravish still. 
But weoidering oft, with brute miconscious gaze, 
Man marks not Thee, marks not the mighty hand, 
That ever-busy, wheels the silent spheres ; 
Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence 
The fair profusion that overspreads the Spring : 
Flings from the sun direct the flaming day ; 
Feeds every creature ; hurls the tempest forth ; 
And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, 
With transport touches ail the spring of life. ., 

Nat lire 3 attend I join every living soul, , 
Beneath the spacious temple of the sky, , 
In adoration joih'd ; and, ardent, raise 
One general song ! .To Him, ye vocal gales, . 
Breathe soft, whose Spirit in your freshness breat 
Oh talk of Him in solitary glooms ! 
Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine 
Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. 
And ye, whose bolder note is h<~ard afar, 
Who shake th r astonish'd world, lift high to heaven 
Th' impetuous song, and say from whom you rage. 
His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills ; 
And let me catch it as I muse along. 
Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound ; 
Ye softer floods, that lead the humid maze 
Along the vale ; and thou, majestic main, 
A secret world of wonders in thyself, 
Sound his stupendous praise ; whose greater voice 
Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fail* 
Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits and flowers, 




A HYMN. 2§S 

In mingled clouds to Him ; whose sun exalts, 

Wnose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints. 

Ye forests bend, ye harvests wave to Him ; 

Breath your still song into the reaper's hearty 

As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. 

Ye that keep watch in heaven ? as earth asleep 

Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams* 

Ye constellations, while your angels strike, 

Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre, 

Great source of day ! best image here below 

Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide, 

From world, to world, the vital ocean round, 

On Nature write with every beam His praise. 

The thunder rolls : be hush'd the prostrate world % 

While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn. 

Bleat out afresh, ye hills : ye mossy rocks, 

Retain the sound : the broad responsive low, 

Ye vallies raise ; for the Great Shepherd reigns ; 

And his unsufferiihg kingdom yet will come. 

Ye woodlands all, awake : a boundless song 

Burst from the groves ! and when the restless day, 

Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep, 

Sweetest of birds ! sweet Philomela, charm 

The listening shades, and teach the night His praise,, 

Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles, 

At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all, 

Crown the great hymn ! in swarming cities vast, 

Assembled men, to the deep organ join 

The long resounding voice, oft breaking clear, 

At solemn pauses, through the swelling base ; 

And, as each mingling flame increases each* 



23* AHYMJT.. 

In one united ardor rhe to heaven* 
Or ity®u rather chuse the rural shade^ 
And find a fane in every sacred grove ; 
T-heie let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's layv 
The prompting seraph, and the poet*s lyre> 
Still sing Vm God of 8©at§Qn% m they rolL i 
For me) when I forget the darling theme, 
Whether the Wossom blows, the summer ray 
Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams ; 
Or Winter rises in the blackening east ; 
Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, 
A^d dead to joy, forget my heart to beat ! 

Should fate command me to the farthest verge 
Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, 
Bivers unknown to song ; where first the sun 
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam 
Flames on th' Atlantic isles ; 'tis nought to me s 
Since God is ever present, ever felt, 
In the void waste as in the city full ; 
And where He vital breathes there must be joy 
When even at last the solemn hour shall come, 
And wing my mystic flight to future worlds, 
I cheerful will obey ; there, with new powers, 
Will rising wonders sing : I cannot go 
Where Universal Love not smiles around, 
Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their sons y 
From seeming evil still deducing good, § () Q 
And better thence again, and better still. 
In infinite progression. But I lose a* ^ 
Myself in Him, in Light ineffable 1 w U 
Come then, expressive silence, muse His praise. 





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